Trollhunters: The Phantom Trollhunter(Part One)
by GhostWriterGirl-1
Summary: When Danielle "Dani" Lake was adopted by Barbara Lake, she'd thought she FINALLY have a normal life. That was, until her adoptive brother Jim Lake was chosen by the Amulet of Daylight and became the new Trollhunter, sparking a new series of adventures for Dani, Jim and their best friend Toby, while trying to avoid being killed on a daily basis. Then again, normal is SO overrated.
1. Becoming: Part One

**IT'S HERE!**

**Yes, this is the fanfic where Dani is in the Trollhunters series!**

**Now, just so you know, not only am I doing the series where Dani is included in it, but I'm doing some original episodes as well just focusing on her and some of her ghost fights, just in case.**

**Anywho, onto the story!**

**No, I don't own Danny Phantom or it's characters, that belongs to Butch Hartman, nor do I own Trollhunters, that belongs to Guillermo Del Toro and Dreamworks.**

**Please read and review!**

**GhostWriterGirl out!**

**Chapter One:**

**Becoming Part I**

In Arcadia Oaks, the sun was just rising over the canals, causing the sky and clouds to be coloured in a beautiful lilac colour, mist covering the canals. On the radio, the announcer announced, "_Good morning, Arcadia Oaks! It's four-thirty AM. If you're still in bed, you are missing the most _beautiful _sunrise, clear skies and a beautiful morning ahead. And big news..._"

But while everyone was doing their normal business, something was happening just underneath the bridge over the canals...

An empty styrofoam coffee cup rolled across the ground, a bird cawing in the background, until a stone-like foot stepped on it, and it's owner, the fearsome, and evil, troll Bular roared, before he punched his opponent, which was another troll wearing silver armour with blue accents, a sword in his hand. This troll was Kanjigar the Courageous, and he was the Trollhunter, sworn to protect good trolls and humanity from the likes of Bular. Kanjigar blocked the punch and the two trolls managed to exchange sides, before Kanjigar dropped to one knee, exhausted from fighting Bular all night.

Panting, Bular growled and ordered, "Yield, Kanjigar!"

"A Trollhunter _never _yields!" Kanjigar retorted, also panting. "I'd rather die!"

"Terms... accepted," Bular said, before he yelled and leapt up into the air, coming down with the intention to smash Kanjigar's head, only for Kanjigar to move out of the way. Bular tried to punch Kanjigar, only for him to sidestep and Bular to hit the ground instead. Bular again tried to punch Kanjigar, but he blocked the punch with his sword, before he swiped it at Bular's legs, but the evil troll leapt out of the way before Kanjigar managed to hit Bular and send him skidding across the ground. When he sat up, Bular saw Kanjigar's sword thrust in front of his face, the Trollhunter himself standing there, glaring.

"_Your _turn, Bular. Yield," Kanjigar demanded.

Suddenly, he noticed his shoulder plate of his armour turning to stone, and saw the rising sun, fear entering his eyes.

With his distraction, Bular kicked Kanjigar, who just turned back, in the face, causing him to go flying, landing underneath the shadow of the bridge, his sword laying a foot away in the sun.

Sitting up, Kanjigar saw Bular striding towards him. Risking it, Kanjigar reached for his sword, grunting in pain as his hand turned to stone before he grabbed it and yanked it back, returning to the shade and once again facing Bular. Suddenly, the amulet in Kanjigar's chest plate dimmed, causing him to worry before he looked up and glared defiantly at Bular.

"There is _nowhere _left for you to run, Trollhunter," Bular said menacingly. "Give me the amulet!"

Instead of doing that, Kanjigar ran up the sides of the canal, Bular close behind him, before Kanjigar leapt onto the bridge, standing up as he held his sword in both hands, looking around warily for Bular, only for Bular to hit him from behind and making him hit the other side of the bridge. But he managed to stand up, getting into a defensive stance as Bular stalked towards him, Kanjigar somersaulting out of the way when Bular tried to attack him, grabbing one of the beams of the bridge underneath it. Noticing Bular, Kanjigar began swinging away from Bular across the beams like a monkey, Bular also doing the same, before Kanjigar swung back up onto the beam, getting himself prepared for another attack, only for Bular to attack him from above, swinging Kanjigar away to the edge of the bridge, before leaping across and on top of him, causing Kanjigar's sword to fall to the ground, only for it to disappear.

Laughing, Bular said, "It all ends here."

He then pushed Kanjigar's face into the sunlight, causing Kanjigar to scream in pain as the left side of his face, his left horn and left arm turned to stone, Bular continuing to laugh in triumph, before he made a move to grab the amulet from Kanjigar's chest plate... only for Kanjigar to grab his hand and thrust into the sun, also turning it to stone, making Bular scream in pain as well, leaping away as he watched his left forearm finish turning to stone, as he noticed Kanjigar standing up, looking for all the world finally defeated as he gripped one of the upright beams.

"It's me, or the sun. Either way, you're doomed," Bular said threateningly, pulling the two swords on his back off, intending to finish Kanjigar off for good.

"No! The amulet will find a champion," Kanjigar replied back defiantly, managing to stand up without the support of the beam as he finished, "We will stop you, _and _your master. _I _may end, but the _fight _will not."

With that, he stepped back to the edge, the heels of his feet turning to stone, as Bular gasped at what Kanjigar meant to do, before Kanjigar crossed his arms across his chest and fell off the edge of the bridge, fully turning to stone as he fell thanks to the sun.

"NO!" Bular screamed in anger as Kanjigar fell to the ground, shattering into pieces, the amulet among the rubble of what was once Kanjigar.

Sheathing his swords, Bular leaned out only to jerk back as he screamed, the sun nearly turning his face into stone. Realising he couldn't get the amulet without turning to stone, Bular roared in defeat, punching the beam as he glared at the remains of his once-opponent and the amulet, before retreating, the amulet still lying among the rubble.

As Bular managed to get into the shade of the forest, an eerie screaming came as two figures flew across the sky in blurs, before the first figure, which looked to be some sort of green, glowing octopus, stopped and turned to face its opponent, which was the second figure, growling.

The second figure was what looked to be a teenage girl with unruly, shoulder-length white hair and spiky bangs, with the longest one nearly covering her left eye, her eyes in question being a glowing green colour. Her skin was a tanned colour, and she wore a two-piece HAZMAT suit, with the shirt part exposing her midriff and being white on the left side and black on the right side, a neon-green collar and a neon-green logo of a speeding **D **with a **P **cleverly inside the **D **on her chest, and neon-green trimming separating the shirt from the sleeves, with the right sleeve being white and the left sleeve being black, elbow-length gloves that pointed away at the top with the right glove black and the left one white, a white belt with what looked to be a technological thermos with green accents attached to the belt, black pants with white stripes on the sides and white knee-high boots with a green band at the top, and silver earrings the same logo as the one on her chest, and black hoop earrings, green stud earrings and a black left earring, and a dark blue headband in her hair and dark pink lipstick on her lips. A glowing white aura encased the girl, and that—along with her floating several feet off the ground—proved that she wasn't a normal girl. For she was Dani Phantom, and this was one of her usual ghost fights.

Dani smirked, before grabbing her thermos and uncapping it, pointing it at the ecto-puss as it tried to make an attack.

"Bon voyage, Mr. Calamari," Dani quipped as a blue beam of energy shot out of the thermos and ensnared the ecto-puss, causing it to scream in rage before being sucked inside the thermos, Dani capping it straight after.

She then breathed out a sigh of relief, smiling happily as she said, "Finally! All of these ghosts, captured and accounted for. Which means I can get back home and get a couple more hours of sle-"

However, before she left, Dani saw something glowing in her peripheral vision.

Thinking it was another ghost, Dani groaned, "Not another one," and turned around to catch the "ghost"... only for nothing to be there. Nothing but the canals, the bridge... and a pile of rocks. No ghost at all.

"Uh? That's weird. I swear I saw something..." Dani muttered, confused... before a beeping sound came.

Startled at first, Dani calmed down and looked at her right wrist after pulling her glove off. Her eyes widened as she groaned again.

"Oh crud! I better get home, stat!" Dani exclaimed, before she turned invisible and flew as fast as she could back to her home, unaware that the glowing that she thought she saw _wasn't _a ghost after all...

...

_A couple hours later_

In a bedroom, an alarm clock suddenly went off at six AM. Lying on the bed next to the alarm clock, a dark-haired boy groaned as he took the magazine he had been reading the other night off his face. Waking up, the boy noticed the time on his alarm clock and yelped at seeing what time it was.

The boy, who was no other than a fifteen-year-old Jim Lake, got out of bed, heading immediately out of his room. Humming, he walked down the stairs, before going into the living room and cleaning it, while also putting away some books and replacing the ceiling light.

After making some toast, Jim typed up a recipe before sending it to the printer. Once it had printed out, he grabbed it and headed back to the kitchen, where he set to work cooking two omelettes while waiting for the second thing he was cooking was ready. Soon, the timer for it went off and he took it out of the oven, with the thing being the meatloaf from the recipe, with Jim cutting it into four separate shares, wrapping it and placing each share into a brown paper bag, before placing one of the bags into the fridge and shutting it. Finished, Jim placed the knife he had been using back into the knife rack before grabbing one of the trays and headed beck upstairs, still humming.

When he got to the second landing, Jim walked towards his mom's room, where he saw a note on the door. Reading it quickly, Jim then opened the door, where inside his mom, Barbara Lake, was inside sleeping in, still in her teal scrubs, and her glasses still on.

Walking inside, Jim placed the tray, which was breakfast for his mom, onto her bedside table and gently took her glasses off without waking her up, cleaning them a bit before placing them on the bedside table too and tugged the blanket up further on his mom's shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"Love you Mom," Jim said quietly to her, before he left, closing the door behind him and headed downstairs to grab the second tray, back upstairs and towards the room where his adopted sister, Danielle—or, as she preferred to be called, Dani—slept in.

Knocking on the door, Jim heard a mumbled "Come in", which was an invitation for Jim to open the door and head inside his sister's bedroom.

Inside, Dani was sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes as she yawned hugely, her raven hair standing up like a lion's mane, before she lowered her eyes and smiled as she saw Jim... and at the tray he was holding.

"Good morning, Dani," Jim greeted as he walked up to her.

"Morning, Jim," Dani greeted back, looking hungrily at the omelette on the plate. "Mmmm... that smells _really _good, Jim. The usual, I'm guessing?"

"You guessed right," Jim confirmed, setting the breakfast tray in front of Dani, her blue eyes lit up in eagerness. Almost immediately, she grabbed the fork and knife and cut a piece off, before eating it and moaning in pleasure. Swallowing, Dani looked at Jim and grinned.

"And once again, this is a delicious meal courtesy of Chef Jim that reaches gourmet levels once more. How do you let us common folk even smell, let alone _eat_, your delectable masterpieces?"

Jim chuckled and answered, "Maybe because those common folk are my awesome mom, great best friend and wonderful sister?"

Dani giggled, before digging in again and eating another bite while nodding. Swallowing, she said, "Too true, bro. Too true."

Soon, almost half of the omelette had been devoured by the ravenous ebony-haired girl. And in between bites, yawns slipped out of her lips, which were brought to Jim's attention. Concerned, he asked, "Late night, Dani?"

Dani's eyes widened in shock, worry and fear before they returned to normal as she answered, "No, not that late. Why'd you ask?"

"You've been yawning a lot this morning. And, considering that the past couple of days you've seem a bit more tired than usual, I'm a bit worried. That's all."

Dani, while touched that her adoptive brother was concerned for her, just shrugged and said, "I'm fine, Jim. I stayed up late last night playing a video game on my phone and lost track of time. But, I understand if I worried you. It wasn't my intention."

Jim seemed to buy her lie. For now, at least.

_I need to ask Danny later tonight before going on patrol if I can borrow some good excuses if something like this comes up again._

After some silence where Dani had finished her omelette, she broke it by saying, "Well, I better get ready for school. See you downstairs, bro?"

Jim shrugged. "Sure, sis."

He smiled at her. "Love you, Dani."

"Love you too, Jim."

With that, Jim grabbed the tray and left the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as he had gone, Dani thrust the covers off and strode towards her wardrobe, where she got out her usual clothes(a blue hooded vest over a white shirt with elbow-long sleeves, red shorts, black leggings that reached to her knees, blue Converse shoes with white accents, fingerless, black, wrist-long gloves, a silver chain necklace with a silver DP logo pendant, silver hoop earrings, blue stud earrings, and a grey earring in her left ear). Changing out of her pyjamas into them, the blue-eyed halfa girl went to her vanity and brushed her black hair, managing to tame it a bit. Placing her headband on and a little bit of lipstick, Dani grabbed her black and white bike helmet with neon-green stripes and some splatters on it that looked like splatters of paint(ironic, considering the colours of her suit in ghost mode), grabbed her bag and almost sprinted out of her room, down the stairs and into the garage, where Jim was waiting for her.

Grinning, Dani put her helmet on and went to her bike, which was black with green accents, and said, "Let's do this thing."

At that, Jim and Dani grabbed their bikes and walked to the garage door. Jim pressed the button to open it, and as it opened, they both noticed the tipped over rubbish bin. Only one thing came to mind of what could have tipped over the rubbish bin:

"Raccoons!" Jim groaned.

While Jim placed his bike on the side of the garage doorframe and went to put the rubbish bin upright, Dani had a sinking feeling that it _wasn't _raccoons that had tipped that bin over.

_I know it wasn't me, or any other ghosts. But maybe, it has something to do with that glowing thing and that mysterious pile of rubble in the canals after I caught that ecto-puss..._

However, Dani was brought out of her thoughts when she and Jim, who had straightened the bin, noticed that Toby was standing there, doing up his helmet, his bike laying on the sidewalk.

"We're late for school, guys," Toby told them.

"Sorry, Tobes. Busy with the lunches," Jim apologised, picking up a milk carton that had fallen out of the bin and put it in. He then reached in his bag and pulled out two of the bagged lunches, handing them to Dani and Toby as he said, "One for me, one for Mom, one for you, Dani, and..."

Toby grabbed the bag and said back, "Ah..."

Dani also grabbed the bag offered to her and smiled gratefully at Jim.

Toby then sniffed inside the bag and listed, "Balsamic mushrooms, meatloaf, chunky, sun-dried tomatoes."

"And cardamom," Jim added as he and Dani walked past, both holding their bikes.

"Ooh! Taking a chance there, Chef Jim," Toby told Jim.

"I'll say," Dani agreed.

"What's life without a little adventure?" Jim asked them back.

At that, Dani's smile lessened as she said quietly, "Yeah, adventure," as she remembered her days of travelling the world while being homeless, and when her first few days of that had been in constant fear of her destabilising before she returned back to Amity Park to get help, which she had gotten, not to mention that she had been fighting ghosts for nearly four years now.

But, maybe, she might have another adventure in store for her?

_Unlikely_.

Suddenly, she heard Toby exclaim, "I can't eat this! I'm on a diet," which effectively brought her out of her thoughts.

Jim, turning to his friend, replied, "You've been on a diet for the past fourteen _years_, Tobes."

"I know," Toby replied back as Jim and Dani got onto their bikes.

"You're _fifteen_," Jim stated as he biked away.

"He's got a point there, Toby," Dani said as she too biked away.

"Long-term goals. My body's still changing," Toby countered, also getting onto his bike, joining up with his friends.

Soon, the threesome were biking down the street, Jim and Dani well ahead, Toby slightly lagging behind them.

"I'm right... I'm right... I'm right behind—" Toby panted, but was interrupted when Jim exclaimed, "Ugh! It's eight o' clock!"

Dani groaned. "Seriously!? Why can't time go slower for days like these?"

Dani then proceeded to glare up at the sky. _Don't even _think _about it, CW._

"We're gonna get suspended! On the account of _meatloaf_!" Toby worried.

"No, we're not, Tobes. The worse we'll get is a detention, especially if we bike fast enough," Dani countered.

"Still!"

"Take the canal, guys! It'll save us five minutes!" Jim shouted back to them as he went down the path that lead to the canals.

Toby and Dani followed after Jim and Toby stammered, thanks to the bumpy ride, "N-Not the c-canal!"

Dani, remembering what she had seen in the canals earlier this morning, called, "Uh, Jim, maybe taking the canals _isn't _a great idea!"

"Oh, live a little!" Jim called back to them, not concerned about talking the canals. He went over a bump, causing his bike to be airborne for a few seconds, before gravity took control and it landed back on the ground, Jim still pedalling.

"It's _living _that I'm _worried _about!" Toby retorted back.

"And I don't want my bike to get caught in a rut and causing me to fall off and break something, like my neck!" Dani countered as well, while managing to avoid said rut. "See!?"

"Come _on, _guys. Don't you two ever want a little more _excitement_?" Jim asked them.

Dani and Toby both chuckled before answering in unison with a strong, "No!"

_And I get enough excitement with catching the blue annoyance known as Box Ghost_, Dani added mentally.

Jim, turning back to look ahead, squinted from the bright sunshine as he smiled. When he came out of the tree line and was at the edge, he managed to pull his bike up so that both he and the bike were airborne. Jim smiled at the sensation of being suspended in the air before gravity once again took hold and he raced down the side of the canal, landing safely on the ground.

Dani, who was a few seconds before Toby, also did the same trick that Jim did, only that she kept herself suspended a little longer with her flight power, before switching it off and letting gravity take control, her bike zooming down the canal's side and coming to a stop beside Jim, a grin on her face.

_Okay. That last bit was _definitely _a thrill. And a great one at that._

Her brother looked at her with an impressed, curious look on his face and he asked, "How did you stay in the air longer than me?"

Dani, although panicking a bit, casually replied, "More momentum than you, I guess."

Jim frowned a bit, but shrugged it off, letting Dani relax a bit, before the siblings refocused back on their best friend, who hadn't appeared yet at the canal's edge.

"Come on, Tobes!" Jim shouted up.

But before he could try again, or Dani could have a try, Jim heard a deep, slightly echoing voice say, "_James... Lake_."

Confused and curious, Jim turned to see the same pile of rubble Dani had noticed earlier this morning. Dani, who had also heard the voice, looked in the same direction... and felt her eyes widen at seeing the pile of rubble.

_Oh no. No way. This... this must be a coincidence, right? Right?_

"Jim?" Dani whispered, looking at him nervously.

At the canal edge, Toby had finally appeared, panting and exhausted. Suddenly, he found himself speeding down the side of the canal and right up the opposite side, screaming. However, Jim and Dani didn't notice as Jim got off his bike and placed it on the ground, Dani doing the same, a look of worry and nervousness on her face, as they walked towards the rubble.

Toby, coming back down, tried to get his bike to straighten, only for him to fall off and land on his face, causing Jim and Dani to notice him.

Dani, wincing, asked him, "Toby, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dani," Toby answered, before he laughed and asked both Jim and Dani, who had returned their attention back to the rubble, "How awesome are we? Awesome!"

Jim, who had taken off his helmet, walked closer to the rubble. Dani, close behind and had also taken off her helmet, bit her lip and suggested, "Jim, maybe we should go? I mean, how many piles of rubble have we encountered that have a voice speaking to us? It can't be good, right?"

Jim, however, ignored her and Dani groaned, before face-palming herself.

"Danielle Lake, you are _so _going to regret this later."

With another groan, Dani strode up to Jim, standing beside him as they neared closer to the rubble, Dani getting an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

_This must have been what Danny felt before the accident._

Toby, who had noticed what had drawn both Jim and Dani's attention, was behind both siblings as he inspected some of the rubble as Jim asked him, "Hey! Hey Tobes? Did you hear that voice?"

"What voice?" Toby asked back as him, Jim and Dani leaned closer.

"You know, the, uh—" Dani started explaining, only for her, Jim and Toby to jump back as Toby yelped when the voice repeated, "_James... Lake_."

That _voice, _Dani finished in her mind.

"_That_! That pile of rocks _knows _my name!" Jim exclaimed, going back to it.

"It's a pile of K-spar. Minerals don't talk. There's got to be a walkie-talkie in here or something," Toby reasoned, also going back to the rubble.

Dani, who had also gone back, said to him, "I wouldn't be so sure, Tobes. I've seen a _lot _of crazy stuff, and I wouldn't put a talking pile of rocks that somehow knows Jim's name _that _far out."

Toby frowned at that, Dani hoping she hadn't just exposed her own secret, when Jim, who had noticed something glowing, picked up the rock hiding the glowing-something... only for it to be some sort of blue stone in a metal casing with strange words around the rim and what looked like a sun dial over the surface of the stone.

Dani, noticing the thing as well, felt her eyes widen as she realised that was the glowing thing she had seen earlier that morning... and what could be the source of the voice.

_No way. Amulets don't talk... do they? Then again, Dora and Aragon's amulets can turn them into freaking _dragons_, so I wouldn't put a talking amulet _that _far out with all things considered._

Jim, still looking at the thing, picked it up and studied it further as he said, "Huh. It looks like an amulet."

Toby, frowning, shouted, "Who's doing this? Come out now!"

"I don't think we're being punked, Tobes. And anyway, if we were, they'd be long gone by now," Dani pointed out to Toby.

"Hello," Jim suddenly said to the amulet, bringing Toby and Dani's attention back to it. "I'm listening."

Jim held up the amulet to his ear while Dani and Toby leaned in, all three hoping to hear the voice again... when the school bell rang.

Jim, Dani and Toby screamed, before they realised _what _the sound was.

Jim groaned and exclaimed, "Final bell!"

With that, the three teens ran back to their bikes, hurriedly put on their helmets and got on their bikes as Toby worried, "We're so late, our _kids_ are gonna have detention!"

"Thinking a bit too far, Toby!" Dani told him.

"Come on! Come on, Dani, Tobes! We can still make it!" Jim told them as he began biking away, Dani and Toby following right behind him.

"We're right behind!" Toby called after him.

"Same over here!" Dani agreed.

However, as Jim, Dani and Toby raced to school in a last-ditch attempt to make it on time, inside the shadows of a grated-off sewer pipe, six glowing eyes with orange irises and yellow whites appeared as the owner of the eyes said in surprise, "It chose... a _human_!?"

...

_Later_

"The Peloponnesian War was actually _three _wars, fought between Athens and Sparta," a well-dressed man in his forties lectured.

It was now History class for Jim, Toby and Dani. The man was their History teacher, Mr. Strickler. The class was on computers searching up for things Strickler told them to search as he walked between desk rows, continuing his lesson.

"The first war is known as the Archimedean War. Type that into your search engines. A-R-C-H-I-M-E-D-E-A-N," Mr. Strickler instructed, Dani and Toby doing as he instructed. Jim, instead, was staring dreamily at his crush who was sitting next to Toby, Claire Nuñez.

Toby and Dani, noticing this, turned back to Jim(Dani was sitting a seat in front of Jim). Toby waved a hand in front of Jim's face, and when that didn't work, Dani snapped her fingers in front of Jim's face, but it provided with the same results.

Sighing, Toby asked Jim, "Really?"

But Jim just continued to stare dreamily at Claire.

Dani shook her head as she muttered, "Man, have you got it _bad_."

"Close your mouth. You're _drooling_," Toby whispered.

"No, no I'm not," Jim replied back.

"Really? Then why can I see a puddle of it on your keyboard?" Dani asked him sarcastically.

Jim glared at her before returning to stare dreamily at Claire before asking Toby, "What are you doing?"

Toby, who had turned back to his computer, answered, "Research."

"Hey, look up 'Talking amulet'," Jim suggested.

"I already did that. All I got was _toys_. One of them was a plushie," Toby told him, pointing to the plushie amulet to prove his point.

Dani rolled her eyes. "I bet you can't find whatever that amulet is on the Internet."

"Do _you _know another way?" Toby asked her.

_Yeah, I do. His name is Clockwork, the Ghost of Time, who knows _everything_, and is my mentor, but I can't tell you that, because that would mean I would have to tell you guys I'm half-ghost_, Dani thought, but didn't say anything.

"Jim, would you agree?" Strickler suddenly asked, startling Jim.

"Sir?" Jim asked back, turning to face Mr. Strickler.

"With Herodotus' opinion on the tactics of war, as I've described," Mr. Strickler repeated to Jim.

"Oh, uh..." Jim fumbled as Toby began whistling and Dani began rubbing her wrist, the both of them turning back to their computers. "Absolutely!" Jim managed to answer.

"Excellent. Which tactics, specifically?" Mr. Strickler pressed.

"The uh... winning ones?" Jim answered, though it came out as more of a question.

Everyone except for Toby and Dani laughed at Jim's answer as the bell for next period rang.

"All right, all right. Don't forget, Michaelson, chapters four and five," Mr. Strickler said as everyone got out of their chairs and left the room. He then turned to Jim and asked, "Jim, may I have a word?"

Dani looked at Jim, a worried look on her face, but Jim motioned for her to leave, which she did.

As soon as she and Toby were out of the class, Dani asked him, "What do you think Strickler wanted to ask Jim?"

Toby shrugged. "Beats me."

Dani sighed, and looked back, her face scrunched up in a frown. Toby, noticing this, asked her, "Dani, why don't you like Mr. Strickler?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You're frowning. And usually, when you frown, it's at Mr. Strickler."

_Or at Box Ghost and Vlad_. "Oh. It's just that I don't trust him. I've just got this weird feeling about him, that's all."

Toby was about to say something when the bell rang the second time and Jim came out of the class. Almost immediately, Dani wiped her frown away as she leaned casually against the lockers and asked, "What did Strickler want to talk to you about, Jim?"

"He noticed me being distracted in class and was concerned about it," Jim answered.

Dani nodded, but she still had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever she saw or heard about Mr. Strickler.

But, she didn't say anything as she, Jim and Toby headed to their next class.

...

_Later_

In PE class, Toby was grunting as he tried to climb one of the ropes, straining as he did so.

"Hang on! Almost there," Toby grunted out. "So close. So _close_!"

"Come on, Tobes! You've got this!" Jim encouraged.

"Just a little bit more further! Dani also encouraged.

However, Toby hadn't gotten very far, unlike the others climbing the ropes. He stretched up a hand and exclaimed, "So close!", before he fell off the rope onto the mat below, his foot tangled up in the rope.

It was at that time that Coach Lawrence had arrived, and he was _not _happy with Toby's lack of progress.

"What is _that _on my rope?" Coach Lawrence asked harshly.

Toby groaned, but Coach Lawrence wasn't finished.

"Every student here should be able to climb _this _rope and ring _that _bell," Coach Lawrence continued, demonstrating a bit. "I want _all _of you to be made of iron. _Iron_! You have got to be _kidding _me!"

While coach was still berating Toby, Jim found his attention once again drawn to Claire, who was with her friends as she laughed while watching something on her phone.

Dani, also noticing, smirked and gently elbowed Jim as she said, "Go get her, Romeo."

Jim glared at her as she chuckled a bit, before he took a deep breath and decided to go for it.

"_Buenos noches_," Jim greeted in Spanish, drawing Claire's attention to him.

"You speak Spanish?" Claire asked him.

"Um... um... uh..." Jim fumbled, while Dani just watched, astounded.

"He's doing it. He's actually talking to her," Dani muttered, before she noticed that it looked like Claire was leaving. "And he completely blew it."

Back with Jim, he was still trying to say something before Claire, taking pity on him, asked, "Do you like Shakespeare?"

Jim, completely confused by this turn in conversation, questioned, "What?"

"Do you like Shakespeare?" Claire repeated.

"Shakespeare?" Jim echoed.

Claire pulled out a flyer from her folder and handed it to Jim as she explained, "The school play. We're having trouble getting boys to audition."

Jim, who was now holding it, looked at it and noticed it was _Romeo and Juliet_, said, "Uh... oh!

Claire smiled at him, before she left.

"_Hasta huevo_," Jim farewelled, before he turned back and saw Coach Lawrence still berating Toby.

"It's like a flabby piñata! And I'm pretty sure you're filled with candy!" he exclaimed angrily.

Dani, who had walked up to Jim, said to him, "That... wasn't too much of a train wreck."

Jim glared at her, before Dani looked at the flyer and stated, "_Romeo and Juliet. _I'm guessing Claire gave it to you, huh?"

"Yep," Jim confirmed.

"And are you going to try out?"

"Well..."

Dani chuckled.

"Come on, Romeo. Let's go and rescue Toby from Coach Lawrence."

...

_Later_

Dani ruffled her slightly damp hair, before she returned to the task of tying the shoelaces of her shoe, the other one already tied. Once she'd finished, Dani stood up and stretched, wincing slightly as the scars on her back twinged in phantom pain at the action, even though it had been well over four years since she'd gotten them.

After she finished stretching, Dani made her way to the entrance of the girl's locker room, absently running a hand through her ebony hair, but was stopped when a familiar voice said, "Hey."

Stopping, Dani turned to see Claire standing behind her, a questioning look on her face.

"Hey," Dani said back, finding nothing wrong with talking to Claire.

"You're Jim's sister, right?" Claire inquired.

"Yes. Why'd you ask?" Dani answered, frowning slightly.

"I was just wondering if Jim was going to try out for the play after all. Since you're his sister, he would probably tell you if he were," Claire answered.

"Oh. No, he hasn't said anything to me. But I think he'll let you know, if he does want to try out," Dani replied. She continued on her way to the entrance of the girls' locker room, and was about to leave when she heard Claire say, "He's pretty cute."

When Dani didn't say anything, Claire elaborated, "Your brother. Jim. He's cute."

Now understanding what Claire meant, Dani asked, "You think so?" _Maybe there's hope left for Jim?_

"Yep. And he's funny. Nervous, but funny. If I wanted someone to play Romeo, it would be him," Claire answered. "I hope he tries out for the part."

"Me too," Dani agreed.

She looked at her watch, and her eyes widened as she saw the time.

"Wow! Where does the time go?" Dani muttered. Looking back up at Claire, Dani said, "Sorry Claire, but I have to go. It's only five minutes until I have Spanish class, and if I don't arrive on time, Señor Uhl will kill me. See you around. Bye!"

Without waiting for a reply from Claire, Dani sprinted out of the girls' locker room, towards the entrance of the boys' locker room... and almost crashed headlong into Jim.

"AH!" they both screamed in unison, Dani managing to stop herself in time. Relieved that she wasn't going to crash into Jim, Dani looked at Jim's face and noticed that he looked a bit startled.

"What's wrong, Jim? You look like you've seen a ghost," Dani teased, fully knowing how ironic that last question was.

Realising how he probably looked—and noticing that Dani was waiting for an answer—Jim said, "It's nothing. I thought I saw something, but it was probably a rat."

Dani wrinkled her nose. "Gross. If it _is _a rat, then the janitor better catch it before we have a rat infestation."

Jim chuckled at her attempt at a joke. The situation having lightened, Dani walked besides Jim and Toby as the trio headed to Spanish, Dani asking Jim, "You're gonna try out?"

At the question, Jim had an unsure look on his face as he answered, "I haven't decided yet."

"Well, whatever you decide, it's your choice," Dani said. "Although I personally think you would make a great Romeo, if your attempts at wooing Claire in gym are anything to go by."

Jim laughed at that, with Toby and Dani also joining in.

Neither didn't know that in the boys' locker room, a tall, four-armed, horned figure had just disappeared into one of the grated holes leading to the sewers.

...

_Later_

It was the end of the school day. Jim, Toby and Dani were walking to the entrance of the school, leading their bikes with them, and Toby was telling them about how he would soon not need braces anymore.

"It's good news, guys. My orthodontist says I'm almost done with my braces! Only four more years!" Toby told them happily. Although Dani and Jim were listening, Jim's attention was turned to school bully Steve Palchuk bullying someone at the lockers.

Dani and Toby, also noticing, saw that Steve had shoved Eli Pepperjack, one of Steve's biggest bullying targets, into a locker and shut the door, laughing while he did it.

"Okay, nothing to see here," Toby said nervously, not wanting to attract the attention of Steve.

Dani gritted her teeth and clenched her hands on the handlebars, her eyes flashing green in her anger and frustration at Steve bullying Eli and her inability to help.

"We can't just let him _do _that," Jim told Dani and Toby.

"Oh yes we can!" Toby argued back, continuing on while Jim and Dani, who decided to do something after almost three years of doing nothing, stayed behind. "If Psycho Steve's terrorising _him_, he's not terrorising _us_. And Dani, Jim..."

Toby was about to continue when he saw Jim walking towards Steve and Dani, smirking a bit at Jim deciding to stand up to Steve for Eli, stood back, even though she would go in and help if Jim needed it.

"Jim! Oh no..." Toby groaned, knowing what Jim was about to do.

"Tell me again, Dweeb-Face. Tell me about the creatures, and maybe, I'll let you out," Steve threatened, oblivious to the fact that Jim was walking up behind him.

"Or you can let him out, right now," Jim offered. Steve turned to him and Jim added, "I mean, you know, it would be nice."

"Nice would be you minding your own business," Steve growled.

"And letting _you _bully someone while turning a blind eye? As if," Dani retorted back.

"Hi Jim! Hi Dani!" Eli greeted from inside the locker, which Steve banged on again.

Deciding to ignore both Dani and Jim, Steve said, "So where were we? Um... okay! You were telling me about the monsters you saw this morning with fangs and what was it again?"

Steve banged on the locker again while Jim and Dani shared looks of confusion at what Steve was saying that Eli supposedly told him while Dani was nervously thinking, _Oh God, I hope that Eli didn't see me in ghost mode and the ecto-puss as well._

"Stone for skin! In the canal!" Eli fearfully said. When he didn't say anything else, Dani relaxed at the fact Eli didn't see her in ghost form.

"Stone for skin! Man, Eli, you got some imagination!" Steve cruelly teased, chortling, as Jim put his bike away and Jim said, "Look Steve, seriously. Just, let him out."

Steve, angry at that Jim was standing up for Eli, grabbed Jim's backpack strap and lifted him up to his eye level.

"Or you'll do what?" Steve threatened, which almost made Dani decide to risk her secret so that she could overshadow Steve and make him let Jim go, but she decided not to because of the greater risks, but she was still tempted.

"Okay, do it. Punch me," Jim said boldly to Steve, taking the bully back a bit.

Toby gasped and Dani worriedly looked at Jim.

Steve chuckled and asked, "You... you're _asking _for a beating?"

"Yeah. Just go crazy," Jim answered, Dani and Toby still worried about what was going to happen to Jim. He then went on, "But in twenty years, _you're _gonna be fat and bald and you'll be working in a muffler shop, and _Eli _will have a career in software and he'll be a _billionaire._"

"I do like computers!" Eli agreed from the locker, which Steve banged on again.

"Let him out! Let him out! Let him out! Let him out!" Toby and Dani chanted in unison, and soon, the crowd that had gathered was chanting as well.

"Let him out! Let him out! Let him out! Let him out! Let him out!" they all chanted. Steve, although feeling pressured by the chanting, was about to just punch Jim when the doors opened and Coach Lawrence entered the scene.

Seeing what Steve was about to do, Coach Lawrence demanded, "Palchuk! What's going on here?"

Steve immediately let go of Jim and said to the coach, "Uh, nothing, sir."

"Why aren't you at practice?" Coach Lawrence demanded.

"I was helping Eli, here," Steve lied, opening the locker door.

"Hey guys!" Eli greeted.

"He was stuck," Steve further lied.

"On the double! Now!" Coach Lawrence demanded.

Steve closed the door again and glared angrily at Jim, before he leaned in and hissed, "Friday, at noon. You and me."

Walking away, Steve whispered, "Tick-tock. Tick," before leaving through the doors.

Jim let out a breath of relief as Eli knocked on the door, drawing Jim's attention back to it. He opened it and Eli fell out, screaming.

"Thank you!" Eli thanked Jim.

...

_Later_

It was late afternoon. Jim, Dani and Toby had biked from school to the street where they lived after the almost-fight with Steve, which Toby was still going on about.

"That was _awesome_, man! Did you see how Dani and I did that chant? 'Let him out. Let him out'," Toby said, laughing at the end.

"It was pretty cool," Dani agreed.

"I mean, you probably won't live past Friday but it was awesome," Toby added. "Good thing your mom's a doctor."

Up ahead, the trio noticed that Jim and Dani's mom's car was driving down the road, slowing down so that Barbara could talk to Jim and Dani, rolling down the window, Jim and Dani also stopping.

"Hey kids," Barbara greeted.

"Hey Mom," Jim and Dani greeted back in unison,

"Looking sharp, Dr. Lake," Toby complimented, biking past the car before biking back, grunting and panting.

"Thank you, Toby. So are you," Barbara complimented back.

"Oh! Does it show?" Toby inquired, looking over himself.

"You're going to be out all night?" Jim asked.

Barbara sighed and answered, "Dr. Gilberg is out all night with bursitis, and Dr. Lenz has a wedding out of town this weekend."

"Okay, well, don't forget to bring your—" Jim started, but Barbara cut him off and said while holding a paper bag, "Dinner. Thank you."

"Right. And _try _to find an _oven _to reheat it in instead of _nuking_. It takes all the flavour and nutrients away," Jim advised, while looking at a slip of paper that had Strickler's phone number on it, conflicted about whether or not to call him.

"Jim, there must be a million things you'd rather be doing than looking after me," Barbara said to him.

"Can't think of one," Jim said back.

"Love you, honey," Barbara said to both Jim and Dani, rolling the window up as she drove away.

"Bye, Mom," Dani and Jim farewelled in unison.

"You mother your mother a _lot_," Toby observed.

"Agreed, Jim," Dani agreed.

Jim chuckled and both he and Dani farewelled, "See you tomorrow, Tobes!", biking to their house.

"Hey, and by the way, don't use mayo on the sandwich! It's the wrong note!" Toby called back to Jim, biking away to his house as well.

...

_Later_

Jim and Dani entered the house. Closing the door behind them, the siblings tossed their bags onto the couch and Jim grabbed the remote, turning on the TV to a blender ad and sitting on the arm of the couch while Dani unceremoniously flopped onto the couch. Jim then got the amulet out of his bag and looked at it, Dani's attention also drawn to it.

While observing it, Jim's ringtone went off and he picked up the phone.

"Hey Tobes," Jim greeted.

"_Did it talk again? Did it do anything interesting?_" Toby immediately questioned.

"Nope," Jim answered.

On Toby's end of the phone, a woman called, "_Toby-Pie! Dinner!"_

Jim pulled the phone away from his ear as Toby called back, "_In a minute, Nana!"_

Jim put the phone back to his ear as Toby said, "_I've got to go. Text me if it does anything cool._"

Jim hung up, grabbed the remote and changed the channel to a a sci-fi robot movie. As Jim and Dani were watching it, the amulet started to glow again, bringing their attention back to it once again.

"Okay, it's glowing again. Do you think it will start talking again?" Dani questioned.

Jim shrugged. "I don't know."

Looking straight at the amulet, Jim said to it, "Um... Hi. How you doing? I'm Jim. But then you knew that because you spoke my name, which is... weird. Hello? Anybody in there? And now I'm talking to an inanimate object."

Dani chuckled at the last part and teased, "Talking to inanimate objects _is_ the first step to madness, bro, no matter if they're glowing or not."

Jim glared at Dani before demanding at the amulet, "Come on! Talk again, or you are going up on eBay!"

Dani was about to make a snarky comment when both she and Jim heard a clattering sound from the basement. Standing up from the couch, Jim put the amulet on the coffee table and he and Dani headed to the basement, which was where they had heard the noise. Opening the door, they once again heard another clatter and Jim instantly suspected who, or what, it was.

"Raccoons!" Jim exclaimed, before grabbing a broom and walking down the basement stairs, Dani following close behind him.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of footsteps and saw three coals lying on the ground.

Gripping the broom tightly, Jim and Dani continued onward into the basement. Dani turned the basement light on as she and Jim looked around, before they both screamed at seeing their reflection, but relaxed when it was just their reflection. Walking on, they were both unaware of the light turning off. Hearing a crash, Jim and Dani yelped, but when they didn't see anything, they sighed in relief. However, behind them were three pairs of glowing yellow eyes, and the owner of the eyes walked up behind them as Jim and Dani picked up the stones and looked at them. In the light from the furnace, the owner of the eyes was revealed to be a four-armed creature with blue, stony skin, tusks, wearing overalls and with strange markings on its body and an orange koala nose. The creature stood up to its full height behind Jim and Dani and exclaimed, "Master Jim!"

Turning around and seeing the creature, Jim and Dani fell on the ground screaming, before they accidentally hit their heads on a pipe, blacking out.

When they came to again, they saw the face of the creature again, who then exclaimed once again, "Master Jim!"

They screamed again and hit their heads on the pipe again, but didn't black out this time. Rubbing their heads, the creature walked toward them and said, "We have found you!"

Still screaming, Jim and Dani scrambled away from the creature as it introduced itself, "I am known as Blinky."

Looking up, Dani and Jim saw a larger, more scarier creature and screamed once more.

"Hi," the larger creature greeted, but Jim and Dani ran away while screaming.

"It's ARRRGGHH. Three 'R's'," ARRRGGHH introduced himself as Dani and Jim yelped and backed away from both Blinky and ARRRGGHH. However, Jim backed into the furnace. Groaning in pain, he stumbled away, but seeing he was being closed in by both Blinky and ARRRGGHH, he dropped to the ground, hands over his head, still screaming, as Blinky and ARRRGGHH looked down at him.

"Hmm... he and that girl say "AH!' a lot," ARRRGGHH, observed.

"It's more of a yelp, I believe. A greeting, perhaps," Blinky mused, before he screamed back at Jim, Jim screaming back as he tried to run away, but ARRRGGHH grabbed his leg, hanging him upside down in the air.

"Master Jim, you have been _chosen_!" Blinky told him.

ARRRGGHH, looking at Jim who had his hands over his eyes, noted, "Hmm. Blinky, he looks scared."

Jim yelped, and Blinky asked his larger friend, "Um, ARRRGGHH, my good fellow, would you mind? This is a moment of some solemnity."

Frowning at the word, ARRRGGHH asked, "Hmm? 'Solembily?'"

"It means serious and dignified," Blinky elaborated.

"Hmm. 'Dig-oo-nified'," ARRGGHH mused.

"P-p-put me down, please?" Jim stammered.

Dani, finding her courage again, agreed, "Yes. I think the blood circulation is starting to cut off from his brain."

Jim managed to glare at Dani despite his fear. Blinky nodded at ARRRGGHH, who said, "Oh," and put Jim right side up and on the ground, yelping as ARRRGGHH did so.

"Thank you. Now, where was I?" Blinky wondered to himself.

"Uh, 'Master Jim... found you...'" ARRRGGHH said, helping Blinky remember.

"Yes. Thank you," Blinky thanked.

Jim tried to run, but just ran into ARRRGGHH's hands back and forth until he stopped, backing into ARRRGGHH as Blinky stepped towards him.

"Master Jim, you have been chosen. The Amulet of Daylight challenges you to ascend to the most sacred of offices," Blinky told him.

"Orifices? What orifices?" ARRRGGHH questioned in confusion.

"Offices. It means responsibility," Blinky translated, before continuing, "Unbeknownst to your kind, there is a secret world, a vast civilisation of trolls lurking beneath your very feet, hidden from view."

"Tro... Tr-Trolls?" Jim echoed, stammering a bit.

"Trolls. Yes, trolls," Blinky confirmed.

Dani, who had also heard, asked, "Wait. Are you saying there are such things as _trolls_?"

Blinky turned to her and nodded. "Yes indeed."

Dani blinked once before groaning. "Great! As if _ghosts _weren't bad enough. Now there are _trolls _now? What next? Werewolves?"

Jim, Blinky and ARRRGGHH turned to her, Blinky and ARRRGGHH in shock and and Jim in confusion, and Dani then realised what she had said.

"Uh... you didn't hear that, right?"

"Dani, what do you mean, by ghosts?" Jim asked in confusion.

"Uh..." Dani stalled, trying to think of an excuse. Not finding one, she decided to go for the truth.

"Ghosts as in spirits of the dead, and who live in the Ghost Zone. Only able to enter or exit the Ghost Zone through a portal, either man made or natural," Dani answered, knowing fully well that she was slowly exposing her secret.

"How do you know of this?" Blinky questioned her. "Unless... you're not human, aren't you?"

At that, Jim frowned. "Dani's human! Just because she knows that doesn't mean she isn't human!"

"That's not true, Jim," Dani muttered, shocking and confusing Jim. Looking at Blinky, Dani went on, "But you're half-right. I'm not _fully _human. I'm half-ghost."

To give some evidence, Dani let her eyes change from icy blue to glowing green, making Jim yelp and Blinky and ARRRGGHH to be taken back a bit, before Dani made her eyes change back to normal. Ducking her head, as if she hadn't revealed her biggest secret, she mumbled to Blinky, "Carry on."

Turning back to Jim, who was again scared once more of Blinky and ARRRGGHH and still processing what Dani had showed and revealed, Blinky revealed, "And it is now _your _charge to protect them! For you, Master Jim, are the Trollhunter!"

Yelping again, ARRRGGHH repeated, "Trollhunter."

"This honour is yours to accept. So, what say you?" Blinky asked.

After the shock of seeing Blinky and ARRRGGHH, learning about Dani's secret and that he was this supposed Trollhunter and just the general fright at seeing ARRRGGHH and Blinky, Jim fainted.

"Is that a yes?" ARRRGGHH asked.

Blinky and ARRRGGHH looked at each other as Dani just face-palmed.

...

_The next morning._

Jim sat up with a yelp. Looking around and still seeing that he was in the basement, and that Dani or the two trolls weren't in sight, Jim got out his phone, dialled Toby, and put his phone to his ear, intending to tell him about what happened last night.

"Pick up, pick up," Jim muttered.

"_Hey Jim,_" Toby greeted when he picked up.

"Tobes, it's me! You're _never _going to believe what happened last night!" Jim exclaimed.

"_Yeah, I'm kinda in the middle of something, Jimbo,_" Toby replied; he was at the dentist's, with the dentist doing something to Toby's braces.

"I am _freaking out _here! _Seriously _freaking! I need to talk to somebody," Jim exclaimed.

"_Chillax. What's going on?"_ Toby asked.

"Okay, last night, me and Dani heard something in the basement. I thought it was raccoons, but then—"

"_Yeah, hang on a second_—" Toby interrupted, only to be cut off as he screamed from the dentist's drill doing something to his teeth.

"_Sorry, Jim. I have to call you back,_" Toby said, but then screamed again, "_No, not that one!"_

...

_Later_

At Mr. Strickler's office, Jim opened the door, with Strickler noticing him immediately.

"Ah, hello Jim. What can I do for you?" Mr. Strickler inquired.

"Um, do you have a minute?" Jim asked back.

"Are you all right? You look peaked. Here, sit," Strickler offered, worried about how tired Jim looked.

Jim gladly took a seat. Taking it to Strickler's desk, Jim alleviated it and sat down on it while saying, "Okay, I don't really know how to say this, but last night something _incredible _happened. Actually, unbelievable. _Completely _unbelievable. As in, you won't believe me, but I'm telling you it's true. I _promise _you it's true."

"All right. Just calm down. I'll believe you," Mr. Strickler said.

"Uh, okay. Last night, two, um, _things _showed up at my house," Jim started.

"Things?" Mr. Strickler asked.

"You know, _things_. Guys. But _really _weird. One had these _eyes_, and the other one was _huge _and hairy. And they said that they were tro..." Jim went on, but stopped before he could say "trolls."

"Tro...?" Mr. Strickler questioned.

"Tr... trainers! Trainers, who want to train me in...," Jim lied, looking around in the office for something you would be trained in when he eyes landed on a chess set. "Ch... uh... chess."

"And why would that have you so perturbed?" Strickler questioned.

"They _really _weirded me out," Jim answered.

Looking out the window, Jim saw Steve playing soccer on the lawn. As if knowing he was watching him, Steve turned to face him and hissed, "Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

Jim looked at the chess piece he was holding as Strickler said, "I think I know what has you so distraught, Jim."

"You do?" Jim asked.

Strickler stood up and walked towards Jim as he said, "It's like I told you yesterday, you have a _lot _on your shoulders. Too much, in my opinion, for someone your age. And I think this opportunity..."

"Chess?" Jim asked.

"I think it's causing you anxiety. I know you want to be there for your mother and your sister, but it's as a great poet once wrote, 'Do what's good for you, or you're _not _good for anybody'," Strickler finished.

The bell rang then for home.

Turning to face Strickler, Jim said gratefully, "Hey, thanks for the advice. I like talking to you."

He walked back to where he left his bag as Strickler said back, "Always."

Jim slung his bag over his shoulders and made his way to the door. However, this let Strickler see a glimpse of the amulet, and his eyes widened at the sight. Jim left, but Strickler was still stunned at what he had seen.

...

_Later_

When Jim came back home, he heard Dani say behind him, "I guess you would want an explanation, right?"

Yelling in fright, Jim whirled around, only to not see Dani.

"How..." he asked, confused, when Dani suddenly appeared in front of him out of seemingly thin air.

Before Jim could say anything, Dani said, "Invisibility. A standard power for both ghosts and half-ghosts."

A serious, but nervous, expression descending on her face, Dani paced around and ran a hand through her black hair, looking at a loss for words.

"How do I explain this? Maybe at the beginning? Yeah, at the beginning."

With another sigh, Dani explained, "First off, I was born with these powers. I never knew my mother, but I plenty knew my father. He, along with my cousin, are the only other two half-ghosts in existence.

"At first, I loved my father, and thought he loved me. But I was only his pawn, his little minion that he would cast aside as soon as he was finished with me. He only saw me as a _mistake_, an endgame until he had a son instead of a daughter. I was worthless to him.

"My cousin made me see the truth, and I managed to escape from him. But he caught me again, and tried to kill me, and he nearly succeeded. If it hadn't been for my cousin, who I now see as more of an older brother, really, I wouldn't be here today.

"And the rest you know."

Jim didn't say anything, and she looked at him.

"Look, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. But I've always kept my powers secret, since if the wrong people knew, they would not hesitate to kill me or dissect me, or they would learn the human identity of my cousin and do the same things to him, or that my father will come for me. But now that you know, can you keep my secret? Even from Toby and Mom?"

Again, Jim didn't say anything.

"Jim?" Dani whispered.

"Okay."

Dani blinked, not believing that he had agreed to keep her secret. "You're... cool with knowing about me, and keeping my secret?"

Jim sighed, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans and explains, "I'll admit, I _was _freaked out when you revealed your secret last night, and I was still pretty freaked out this morning—_especially _with learning that trolls were also real when two appeared in the basement and told me I was now the Trollhunter because the amulet we found in the canals chose me, or something."

Dani laughed, but it didn't have any humour to it. "Yeah, I was pretty shocked to learn that ghosts weren't the _only _supernatural race to exist too."

Jim nodded, and continued, "In fact, I was so freaked that I called Toby to tell him everything, but I didn't because he was at the dentist and hung up shortly after. So, I went to tell Mr. Strickler, but I didn't because... because I felt that I knew, then, that this is a secret that probably _should _be kept no matter what, wasn't mine to reveal, and... and that he wouldn't believe me anyway."

Jim, barely noticing the saucer-wide eyes Dani had at hearing him say he had almost told Toby and Strickler _everything_, went on, "And, as I was walking back here, I thought about why you never told me, Tobes or Mom earlier your secret, and I... I realised that maybe it would put me or Mom in danger or even _you _in danger if you told us, that maybe we would have either freaked out just as badly as I had done this morning or wouldn't have believed you unless you gave us proof... and maybe _then _that would have us freak out. We'd probably be scared of you, and maybe _that _would've attracted those wrong people to you and do those things you mentioned earlier, and that it probably also involves someone else. And that... that made me understand _why _you kept it a secret, and why you don't want to tell Mom or Toby you're half-ghost, and why you don't want me to tell them. And I understand and respect that. So yes, I'm cool with it, and I'll help keep your secret."

Dani, who had looked stunned at hearing everything he said, breathed out a long sigh of relief and gave him a shaky smile. "Thank you, Jim, for understanding. What you said, about my reasons for keeping the secret that I have ghost powers from you for so long... they're a part of them, and more. Again, I'm... I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I had to know for absolute certain that I could trust you with it, and everything it entails; you can understand that I have _some _trust issues. I... I only wish that I had told you on my own terms, without those trolls, Blinky and AARRRGGHH, appearing first."

Inhaling a breath, Dani finished, "Which is why, once I'm ready, I'll tell Mom and Toby that I'm half-ghost myself. But _only _when I'm ready. Until then... I am glad that you'll help keep my secret."

She gave another shaky, but more genuine, smile, before wrapping her arms around a surprised Jim in a hug, that smile still on her face.

"Thank you, Jim," she whispered.

Jim, understanding what she meant, wrapped his arms around his adopted sister in a hug as well and replied, "It's okay."

The siblings stayed in their hug for a few more seconds until Jim pulled back and he looked at Dani with a curious look in his eyes.

"So, the real reason why you always look so tired in the mornings _isn't _video games, isn't it?" Jim asked, which Dani nodded to confirm it.

"Nope; night just so happens to be the _perfect _time for ghosts to attack and pester me into irritation," Dani replied, rolling her eyes and grimacing at memories of the Box Ghost and the wild chase he made her go on around Arcadia until one in the morning, when she _finally _caught him.

At Jim's wide-eyed look, probably imagining how badly a ghost fight could end, Dani hurriedly said, "But it's just the weak ghosts that attack! They're more annoyances than threats, and I deal with them pretty easily. My cousin's the one who usually handles the ghosts that are the _much _larger threats; after all, he _does _have a portal leading into their world in his basement."

Dani muttered that under her breath, so quietly that Jim couldn't possibly hear her. But he must have, because he looked at her quizzically, frowning slightly, and then Dani noticed that he didn't seem to be confused by what she muttered; in fact, he seemed to be staring at her back.

Or more accurately, the three scars that striped across it.

"That wasn't a bear that gave you those scars, wasn't it?"

Dani shook her head, shuddering at the memory of fighting against the ghost.

"No. It was a ghost, but one I've _never _fought before, and never fought again. It was really powerful and strong, and almost killed me when it gave me those scars. If I hadn't distracted it, it would have killed me.

"I... I was lucky to get away with my life and these scars."

Jim was silent, but his eyes were wide, and then he murmured, "No wonder you didn't want to tell me or Mom earlier about your secret."

Dani nodded. "Yep. I didn't want you guys to worry, even though I've never seen that ghost again. Its probably gone now, back in the Ghost Zone, but I just... didn't want you guys involved in anything dangerous with my... other life."

Neither of them said it, but a glance at the amulet that had chosen Jim was enough:

He had unknowingly gotten himself in something that was potentially more dangerous than ghosts, no matter that Dani had kept her ghost powers and ghost-fighting a secret.

But that just only meant that whatever happened, Dani was gonna be there, to have her adoptive brother's back—after all, she _did _have the most experience with the supernatural, after all.

No matter what.

That was a promise.

Slowly, but surely, the solemn air dispersed, and that curious look appeared on Jim's face again.

"So, Dani, aside from turning invisible and giving me a heart attack and making your eyes glow green... what other powers do you have?"

It was an honest question, one that Dani wanted to answer but not _just _yet.

A mischievous smirk dancing on her face and twinkling in her eyes, Dani replied as she walked backwards and straight towards the kitchen wall, "That's for me to know... and you to find out."

As she got closer, Jim's eyes widened in alarm and he made to warn her, hand stretched out, but before he could, Dani had already phased through it, giggling at the stunned look on Jim's face.

Unable to resist, Dani stuck her head through the wall, the tickling feeling of intangibility washing over her as she used it to keep her head from becoming disconnected with her shoulders.

Jim gaped, and Dani chuckled as she asked, "What? Never seen a ghost walk through a wall before?"

Blinking the stunned look away, Jim asked, "How... how are you _doing _that?"

Dani shrugged and walked the rest of the way through the wall as she answered, "Intangibility. Another standard ghost power. It's very useful when you want to avoid flying objects or walk through stuff like walls, but pretty annoying when you first get it and it turns on and off completely randomly, usually due to your emotions. But once you've controlled it, along with the other powers, it's useful, and _highly _fun to use to mess with people's minds. Like... going invisible when playing hide and seek as a kid and no one else knew you had ghost powers back then?"

Jim looked confused at her answer, but realisation dawned and anger took place.

"That's why we could never find you back then! You cheated!" He exclaimed.

"Did I?" Dani smirked. "After all, using your ghost powers to turn invisible _wasn't _against the rules."

Jim still looked pretty ticked off, but Dani just gave a half-smile as she activated her flight power and floated over to the couch, hovering over it cross-legged, as the angry look melted away into dumbfounded shock.

"You can _fly _as well?!"

"Yep," Dani answered, adjusting her position so that she was lying on her stomach in the air. "Also another standard ghost power, and one I enjoy very much, as it relaxes me, and helps me to de-stress from the anxieties of school, fighting ghosts and leading a secret double life."

Her eyes, trained on the still-black screen of the TV, trailed down to the remote lying on the coffee table, of which it was just _slightly _out of reach while she was floating above the couch, and got an idea.

Concentrating on the remote, Dani called upon one of her most useful—and one of her most slightly taxing—powers, barely noticing as Jim stared at her while asking his questions.

"So, you can just float up there, and don't need to come back down?" he asked.

"Nope," Dani answered, still not taking her eyes off the remote.

"At all?"

"Well, unless either Mom or you before you knew came home or I had some more important stuff. Other than that, yeah. Pretty much."

Jim opened his mouth, like he was about to ask another question, but that question turned into a gasp as the remote floated off the table and into Dani's awaiting hand, which she promptly used to turn the TV on.

Looking back and forth between where the remote had once been and where it now was, Jim said, "Did you just..."

"Yep. I used telekinesis," Dani confirmed. "It's a—"

"Let me guess, another standard ghost power?"

Dani shot him a glare for interrupting, unable to hold back her eyes glowing acid green. Although, to his credit, he didn't flinch at seeing her eyes glow; probably from already seeing them glow last night and seeing her doing other impossible stuff like walking through walls, disappearing and flying.

Or, well, _floating._

"No, actually. Telekinesis is a pretty rare ghost power; I think only five out of ten ghosts get it, so it's even rarer for half-ghosts. My cousin has telekinesis, but it's not as strong as my own, as our ghost powers tend to differ," Dani explained, mentally adding, _Despite that I'm his clone_. "Although, outside of ghost fights and training, I just use it to do stuff like floating the remote to me."

Jim frowned a bit, before he smirked and asked, "So... you use your powers for yourself whenever me or Mom weren't home, right?"

Dani blinked once, shocked that he had guessed what she _did _do whenever Jim or her adoptive mother weren't home, but she brushed it away with a high, nervous laugh and floated back onto the couch.

"What?! That's ridiculous! Why would I use my powers, that are _obviously _meant to be used to stop the ghosts from taking over the world, for myself when I'm home alone?" Dani said, though there was a nervous tone to it.

"Uh-huh," Jim said dubiously, eyebrow arched and that smirk still on his face.

Dani glared at him, but blushed and mumbled, "Okay, _maybe _I do... but it doesn't hurt anyone. And besides, it's practicing my powers!"

And speaking of her ghost powers...

A chill ran up her spine as Dani gasped and a blue mist snaked out of her mouth, alerting her to the presence of a ghost, and Jim's eyes widened at seeing it.

"Ghost sense," she explained. "It alerts me to whenever a ghost is around."

Running up to the stairs so that she could transform in the privacy of her bedroom—as she wasn't comfortable going ghost in front of Jim, lest he connect the dots and realise _who_, exactly, her cousin was—Dani was halted by Jim saying, "I'll work on dinner while you're gone. And maybe... you could show me the rest of your powers?"

There was such hopeful curiosity in his voice, that Dani would show him the full array of her powers, and Dani made her decision.

"Sure."

Jim looked really happy, and Dani added, "But on the weekend; I think we need the two free days for explanations and appropriate time to freak out, probably."

Jim laughed. "Probably."

Smiling down at her adoptive brother, and conveying another silent thank you to Jim for accepting her and agreeing to help keep her secret until she felt ready to tell Toby and her mother, Dani raced up the stairs, closed the door, and shouted, "I'm going ghost!"

The familiar bluish white rings of light appeared around her waist, splitting in half as Dani transformed into her ghost form, finishing off with her icy blue eyes changing into an acidic green colour.

Transformation complete, Dani turned intangible and flew through the wall and straight into the sky, ready to find and catch the ghost before they did any damage.

Unless they were Box Ghost.

If it was Boxy, Dani was going to be _doubly _annoyed that she was missing out on Jim's legendary cooking for hi—

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

Dani sighed. The universe just _loved _to mess with her, didn't it?

Still, she went after the nuisance, hoping and praying she caught him quickly.

...

_Later_

Cutting a tomato into a few slices, Jim slid them onto four pieces of bread with ham on top them, before putting the knife away and placing a lettuce leaf each on the sandwiches, before finishing them off with cheese and a slice of bread. While he was doing that, Dani—who had come back a minute ago—poured herself a glass of orange juice, her frustration at having to catch Box Ghost ebbing away.

Sandwiches done, Jim looked at the amulet in his bag as it began glowing again. He glanced at Dani, who shrugged, but she had a curious look on her face.

Grabbing his bag, Jim went outside to the backyard, Dani behind him as she leaned on the steps railing with her drink still in hand, holding the glowing amulet in his hands and holding it up to his face, where he noticed strange letters on the rim of the amulet.

The dial of the amulet began spinning as the letters changed languages, until they were in English, showing that it was some sort of incantation.

"For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command," Jim read, speaking the incantation out loud.

A sudden wind blew in, and the cat food for a neighbour's cat began floating up while in Jim's room, his computer suddenly turned off. Dani, who had frowned in confusion at hearing her brother speak the incantation, gasped as her orange juice floated up and she felt _herself _levitate... only she wasn't using her ghost powers.

_What's happening?!_

The wind blew even more sharply, and then a blue, fiery light appeared out of the amulet, surprising Jim as Dani forcibly lowered herself back to the ground, and she gasped as the light flew _inside _Jim.

Glancing at the amulet again, several more fiery lights flew out of the amulet and into Jim, before he was lifted up from the ground as blue fiery light surrounded him and silver _armour _appeared, hovering over his body as Dani gasped, eyes wide. The armour attached itself to Jim, only it was a lot, _lot _more larger than him as Jim yelped, before the armour shrank to his size with more glowing blue light, as if by _magic_, awing Dani, the amulet embedded in Jim's chest plate.

"This is so, freaking, _cool_!" Jim exclaimed as he looked at the armour, before placing his hands on his hips.

"I'll say," Dani agreed, mouth certainly permanently agape.

Three more lights flew out of the amulet and to Jim's hand, confusing him briefly before a flash of white light appeared and a boom went off, just before a massive _sword _appeared in Jim's hands.

"No. Flipping. _Way_," Dani breathed.

The sword, weighing a ton, fell to the ground as Jim struggled to lift it up, but he managed to, facing it frontward and horizontally, before it shrunk as well, surrounded by blue fire, before that fire disappeared as well.

Grinning, Jim lifted the sword over his head and did several fancy manoeuvres with it, awing Dani further... until it got stuck in a rock.

Realising that, Jim moved to the side and tried to pull it out, but it proved to be fruitless; the sword didn't budge an inch.

Seeing that, Jim stood on the rock and again tried to pull it out, grunting, but he only tumbled off with the sword still stuck in the rock. Not giving up, Jim ran back to it and again tried to pull it out with all of his strength, grunting even more, pulling and pulling until, _finally_, he sword came free... only to end up getting stuck in _another _rock.

Dani couldn't help it—she laughed.

Jim, hearing her laughing, glared at his adopted sister.

"Yeah, it's _real _funny," Jim deadpanned, still glaring at her as she doubled over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it's just so _hilarious!_" Dani gasped out, wiping a tear away.

Jim glared at her again, and then he asked, "Maybe you could help me pull it out, by turning it intangible, or something like that?"

Straightening, Dani finished laughing and said with a smile still on her face, "Sure."

Walking up to the sword still embedded in rock, Dani activated her intangibility power, focusing it on her left hand as she touched the sword, intending to turn the sword intangible so that it would be easier for Jim to pull it out...

Only that, as soon as she made contact with it, to end up flying across the backyard and almost slam into a rock.

"Dani!" Jim yelled, concerned for her.

Getting to her knees, Dani held up a hand and said, "I'm okay!"

Standing, Dani looked at her hand, which had returned to tangibility again, to the sword still stuck in the rock, her mind whirring as to how it could have done that while she touched it.

"It must be anti-ghost, or something like that," Dani murmured to herself, before yelling to Jim, "I don't think your new sword likes me! I think you have to pull it out by yourself."

Jim bit back a groan before turning to his sword and tried to pull it out _again_ while Dani walked back to the steps, watching.

...

_Meanwhile_

At the canals, someone drove their car to the edge and parked it there. Getting out of it, the person walked down the slope of the canal wall and towards the rubble, picking up a piece of stone and looking at it, revealing themselves to be Strickler.

Seeing a semi-circle where the amulet would have been, Strickler said, "It's been taken. _You've _failed. _You _let it go."

A snort came, and Strickler reprimanded, "Your father will be... displeased."

A snarl sounded and _Bular's _face appeared over Strickler's shoulder, and he growled, "Whoever holds the amulet of _Merlin... _I shall destroy him. Just as I have done with every, single, one of them."

"Worry not, you _brute_," Strickler said to Bular, who glared at Strickler as his eyes glowed yellow with slitted pupils, "I know where to find it."

He and Bular turned from the rubble that had once been Kanjigar as Strickler walked away, discarding the piece of stone.

...

_Meanwhile_

Back at the Lake house, Jim was still trying to pull the sword out again with all of his strength, Dani watching from the steps and smiling encouragingly.

"_I believe the amulet has found it's _champion."

At last, the sword came free and Jim held it up in the air, smiling, neither him or Dani aware of Strickler's ulterior motives... or that he knew Jim was now the new Trollhunter.

**Please read and review!**

**GhostWriterGirl out!**


	2. Becoming: Part Two

**I do not own Trollhunters or Danny Phantom; they belong to their respective owners.**

**Chapter Two:**

**Becoming: Part Two**

It was now morning, and Jim and Dani were biking across the bridge as fast as they could, stopping at their destination, which was the dentist's.

Parking their bikes and taking off their helmets, the Lake siblings entered the dentist's office, and despite the dentist assistant's shouted warning of, "Don't go in there, he's with a patient!", they still went inside, where the dentist was looking at Toby's teeth.

"Tobes!" Jim and Dani yelled in unison, Jim shutting the door behind him.

"Hey there Jim and Dani," Toby greeted, though it was muffled a bit by the dentist's finger still in his mouth as he searched for the right tool.

"Tobes, Tobes, Tobes, Tobes, I've _got _to talk to you!" Jim exclaimed as he walked up to Toby and put his bag down, Dani still standing by the door.

"I'm a little busy right now," Toby said, though because of the dentist's finger, it was still muffled and therefore, Dani and Jim couldn't understand him.

"What?" they asked in unison, confused.

"He says he's a little busy right now," the dentist translated, having found what he was looking for, which were what appeared to be cotton wads and which he stuck in Toby's mouth, making him wince and groan in pain as Jim and Dani cringed in disgust, Toby moaning, "Oh gosh, that hurts."

"Okay, remember that thing we found the other day?" Jim asked Toby, though he was only half-listening. "In the canals, with the gem and stuff? It _works_, it _works _like _crazy_!"

"It actually does," Dani agreed, crossing her arms,

Toby turned to Jim and asked, "Can it wait, man?"

"What?" Jim and Dani asked, still not understanding their best friend.

"He said this can wait, man," the dentist translated as he pulled a drill to Toby's mouth, eliciting a scream of pain from Toby and a cringe from Jim and Dani.

"I've been waiting until _morning!_ Who goes to the dentist two days in a row?" Jim asked, thoroughly confused there.

"That's... actually a pretty valid question," Dani agreed, also sharing her brother's confusion.

Through his screams of pain and tears, the dentist's drill came off and Toby explained, "I want to get these braces off before I'm thirty."

"I want to get these braces off before I'm thirty," the dentist translated, before he put a mouth guard into Toby's mouth.

"What?" Dani and Jim asked, this time in even more confusion.

"It's like my mouth is a city engineering project," Toby said, only it sounded more like gibberish.

"It's like my mouth is a city engineering project," the dentist translated.

"How much longer is this gonna take?" Jim questioned.

The dentist gave him a serious look and held up a tool with a drill and saws, Toby gasping in fear before screaming as it entered his mouth.

...

_Later_

"Eight _hours_! I can't believe it takes eight hours!" Jim yelled in disbelief, pacing around in his kitchen, Toby standing there after the dentist _finally _finished, Dani leaning on the counter.

"I agree. Eight hours? _Seriously? _That's kinda overkill," Dani agreed.

"Two molars, plus insertions and some cleanup," Toby listed off.

Finished pacing, Jim strode up to Toby with a smile and said, "Okay, Tobes. _You _are _never _going to believe this!", before racing towards his bag, where the amulet was.

Toby, who looked confused, massaged his cheeks and said, "My mouth still feels a little sore."

Turning to the freezer, Toby opened it and grabbed a pizza box out and held it to his mouth as Jim took the amulet out and turned to his best friend, holding it out as he said, "Check _this _out."

Staring at the inscription on the rim, Jim was prepared to say it out loud when Toby asked, "Do you guys have any aspirin?"

Dani shrugged, and Jim said seriously, "Tobes, pay attention."

Toby, smelling the pizza inside, grinned and "mmm'ed" at how delicious it smelled.

Exhaling, Jim incanted, "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to—"

However, he was interrupted by the microwave going off as Toby pulled a slice of pizza out. Noticing Jim, he said, "Go on."

"It worked last night," Jim said, staring at the amulet.

"Are you punking me right now?" Toby questioned.

"Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait," Jim said, Toby's attention now drawn to him as Jim closed his eyes.

The amulet glowed again and hovered over his hand as the glowing lights appeared and he was lifted off the ground, the pizza slice also hovering over Toby's hand as he exclaimed in shock, "Holy _champignon!"_, Dani grinning.

The armour and sword appeared and Jim landed back on the floor, the pizza slice also returning to Toby's hand.

"Oh ho ho ho! How _cool _is _that_?!" Jim exclaimed, grinning.

Toby gasped as Jim walked up to him, eyes and mouth wide, before he exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! So cool, so cool, so cool! Dude, you what this means, right?"

Walking away from Jim, he said, "You have a sacred responsibility here."

"That's what they said!" Jim exclaimed, referencing to the trolls.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, oh my go... You have to use these new powers for the benefit of all mankind! You have to use this... to kick Steve's butt," Toby said, grinning.

Jim and Dani just looked at him and said, "_Really?"_

"I show you a glowing sword, and a suit of armour that can _only _be magic, and _that's _how you respond?" Jim asked in disbelief, gesturing to said sword and suit of armour.

"Seriously! It's butt-kicking time!" Toby replied, before doing a series of Kung fu moves and landing in a semi-split, and observed, "These pants are so _elastic."_

Standing up, Toby realised something and asked, "Wait. Who's 'they'?"

"Well, _that's _the part I've been freaking out over!" Jim exclaimed, leaving out that learning about Dani's secret had also freaked him out.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the back door, drawing the three teens' attention, and Blinky's face appeared, shocking Toby, who gasped.

"What, what, what the heck is _that_?! Don't open the door!" Toby yelled.

Unfortunately, Blinky opened the door, and he laughed as he exclaimed, "Master Jim!"

Toby screamed and darted behind Jim and Dani, almost knocking them forward as he said, "I'm calling 911."

However, he screamed again and pulled Jim and Dani to him by the arm as AARRRGGHH entered, only he was stuck in the door, which was too small for him.

"No, Animal Control!" Toby decided, still screaming as he ducked behind the counter, looking out over it as he breathed, "Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh. They _talk_!"

"I knew it was but a matter of time before the amulet called to us," Blinky said, surprising Jim.

"_Called _to you?" he asked.

"Actually, no. We've spying on you," Blinky admitted.

"Spy on you," AARRRGGHH agreed, laughing, before he tried once more to get through.

"Well, keeping a close watch," Blinky amended.

"How is that better than _spying _on us?" Dani asked sarcastically, crossing her arms and frowning.

Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling as the back door gave way and AARRRGGHH collapsed onto the ground, groaning, "Door small."

"_Animal control," _a woman's voice said on the phone, as Toby had indeed called it.

"Monsters, at my best friends' house! I need you to send a squad!" Toby shouted.

"_Is this a joke, kid?" _The woman asked, not believing Toby as he looked up and saw AARRRGGHH! standing there.

"Make that the National Guard!" he yelled, only to hear the sound of someone hanging up.

"Animal Control hung up on me," Toby said, as if not believing it.

Dani snorted. "You basically told them that there were monsters here. How _else_ would they have reacted at hearing that?"

Toby ignored her, still terrified.

"You told your stout little friend about _us_?" Blinky asked in shock, confusing Jim but Dani understood what Blinky meant.

"Um, is that a problem?" Jim asked back unsurely.

"Master Jim, we trolls have gone to great lengths to keep our existence secret from your kind, lest there be panic," Blinky explained as AARRRGGHH! picked up Toby and put him on the counter, where he screamed and began brandishing a ladle as a weapon, exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh..."

"Like that," Blinky finished, gesturing to Toby.

Jim and Dani walked up to their terrified, panicking best friend, and Jim assured, "It's all right, Tobes."

Toby, having not heard him, breathed, "They're like nine feet tall."

Dani gave her adoptive brother a look that said, _I don't think he's calming down any second now._

As if not noticing the look she sent him, Jim introduced, "This is my best friend, Toby D."

Toby, still not calmed down, muttered, "He has like eight hundred eyes! We're going to die."

"Hardly. Your friend is the Trollhunter. His noble obligation is, protective," Blinky explained as Jim and Dani walked back to him.

"Like 'protecting'?" Toby asked as he _finally _began to calm down. "You mean, like a superhero? Oh, can I be his sidekick? With a cool superhero name like Deathblade or Snipersnake?"

Dani rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help a grin on her face. "Yeah, _exactly _like a superhero."

Toby, as if realising that she was completely calm, asked, "Dani, how are you _not _freaking out about this as much as I am?"

Dani looked down and said cryptically, "Let's just say, I've seen more scarier stuff than them."

"Just wait. _Who _would I be protecting?" Jim asked Blinky and AARRRGGHH!, confused about that part.

"Us," AARRRGGHH! answered, gesturing to himself.

"And mankind. From bad trolls. As well as goblins, gruesomes and the occasional rogue gnome," Blinky explained as Toby, now over his panic, began tapping at Blinky's face with his ladle. Blinky, noticing, frowned and asked in irritation, "Do you mind?"

Toby dropped the ladle immediately.

Turning back to Jim, Blinky continued, "The mantle of Trollhunter is a sacred responsibility, one which has _never _been passed to a human before. This is a _momentous _occasion."

Blinky then smiled, but Jim looked freaked out, and Dani tried to give him an encouraging look.

Suddenly, a car horn honked, and Jim and Dani immediately recognised the car driving up to the house.

"Oh, it's our mother!" Dani and Jim exclaimed in unison.

"Upstairs, quick!" Jim instructed as they ran up the stairs, AARRRGGHH questioning, "Mother?"

As he ran up the stairs, AARRRGGHH! accidentally broke the railing, but he quickly set it back in pace before Barbara walked in through the door.

Setting her car keys down, Barbara heard a thump and she said, "Jim? Dani? It's me."

Jim and Dani who, along with Toby, Blinky and AARRRGGHH!, were in the bathroom, Jim at the door after he closed it and still wearing his armour,

Whirling around, he exclaimed, "She's not supposed to be home until _midnight_!"

"Maybe she finished early?" Dani suggested, but she didn't believe it herself.

AARRRGGHH!, who was behind Toby, suddenly sniffed him and said, "Mmmm. You smell like cat."

"My nana has a Siamese," Toby explained, a bit weirded out, only for the large troll to say, "Tasty," and lick his lips.

Suddenly, Jim and Dani heard their mother say from the other side of the bathroom door, "I forgot my phone. Are you two okay in there?"

Jim and Dani immediately gestured to Toby to do something and he looked around as Jim said, "Um, we're fine. I mean, my stomach's a little, uh..."

Suddenly, he heard noises and turned to see Toby splashing a toilet brush up and down in the toilet, making disgusting-sounding noises.

Jim immediately tried to signal to Toby to cut it out, but he continued, confusing Barbara.

"Uh, you know, I might have a food poisoning situation," Jim lied, and Dani immediately added, "And I'm here as well to give him moral support!"

"Honey, I'll get you some medicine, okay?" Barbara said, believing his lie and going back downstairs, much to Jim and Dani's relief, exhaling.

Jim, looking at Dani, asked incredulously, "_How _are you so good at lying?"

"Practice," Dani replied. Glancing at the amulet, she added, "Also, your amulet is glowing."

Noticing that, too, Jim turned to Blinky and asked, "Okay, what's this going on here?"

"The amulet reacts to your emotional state. You appear to be in some distress," Blinky explained as Toby turned the bathroom light off, grinning at seeing the amulet glow brighter in the darkness.

"You _think_?" Jim asked sarcastically as AARRRGGHH! turned the light on and off.

"I have another question," Toby said, turning to Blinky.

"Speak, Theodore," Blinky replied, accidentally getting Toby's name wrong.

"It's Toby, actually. Or Tobias. If Jim's the first _human _Trollhunter, like you said, then who or _what _was the Trollhunter before him?" Toby questioned.

"I'd... actually like to know that as well," Dani admitted.

"The glorious mantle has been passed from troll to troll for hundreds of years," Blinky answered.

"So, the previous Trollhunter, what, retired?" Jim questioned.

"Was, felled," AARRRGGHH! said sadly, looking down as did Blinky.

"Felled?" Jim asked.

"Means killed," AARRRGGHH! answered.

"Turned to stone and smashed," Blinky explained, shocking Jim. "Kanjigar the Courageous was his name. Brutally slain by a ruthless troll named Bular."

Seeing the shock on Jim's face, Toby assured as he turned the light back on, "Don't worry, dude. This Bular guy probably just got lucky."

"The evidence does not suggest that. Bular is a formidable opponent," Blinky countered.

"Then the other guy. He was just off his game or something, right?" Jim asked hopefully.

"Doubtful. Kanjigar was perhaps the most alert and able of all the Trollhunters," Blinky answered.

"But not the _best_, I'm betting," Jim asked cautiously.

"Oh, the _very _best. Many songs and sagas have been written about him," Blinky answered, oblivious to Jim's growing worry.

Dani just face-palmed and muttered, "Not helping, Blinky."

"Uh, I think what my friend here is a _little _worried about is, if this..." Toby started, having forgotten the evil troll's name, and AARRGGHH! said, "Bular."

"Yeah, I got it. If _Bular _could defeat Kanjigar—" Toby began again, only to be interrupted by AARRGGHH saying as he sucked the toilet brush, "Smash to pieces."

Jim, groaning, sank to the ground and held his head as a look of fear and worry spread on his face at hearing that, Dani giving him a concerned look as Toby asked, "Then what's going to happen to Jim?"

"A most appropriate, if not troubling, query, Tom," Blinky said, once again getting Toby's name wrong as he looked at Blinky, who immediately corrected, "Tobias! Of course, we would _never _expect Master Jim to engage in _battle _without the proper training. Not at all."

Dani breathed out a sigh of relief at hearing that, and Toby said to Jim encouragingly as he helped him up, "See? Nothing to worry about! How long does the training usually take?"

"Oh," Blinky said, and began counting on all sixteen of his fingers before answering, "Decades."

"And... how long do I have?" Jim asked, already dreading the answer.

"A day or two," Blinky answered, AARRRGGHH! moving his hand up and down.

Jim face-palmed.

A knock came and Barbara called, "Jim, I have medicine and ginger ale. Come on out."

Whirling around, Jim called back, "I'm fine. Really."

"Yeah, I think his stomach is stable now," Dani also called back, adding on to it.

"I'm a _doctor_. I'm going to treat my own son," Barbara replied, insisting.

"I just need a little privacy!" Jim called back.

"You're worrying me!" Barbara exclaimed as she jolted the cup, accidentally spilling some ginger ale. "Oh."

As she was focused on that, Jim hissed to Dani behind the door, "Can't you turn us invisible?"

"I can, but I don't know whether your armour will keep me from turning you invisible too," Dani hissed back. "It didn't work yesterday when I tried to turn the sword intangible, remember?"

"Oh," Jim realised, remembering and wincing.

"Uh, what are you talking about, Dani?" Toby asked in confusion.

Dani, realising that she was talking about her ghost powers, had a look of fear enter her eyes, until she noticed that Jim's amulet was glowing again. "I'll explain later! Now, hide!"

There was a flash of blue light, and Barbara said, "I'm coming in", moving to open the door... only for it to be opened by Jim as he waved a hand, a flushing sound coming from the toilet, his armour gone as Dani stood behind him, grinning widely as she tried to keep her eyes from glowing green.

"Ooh! See? All good," Jim assured his mom, chuckling as he left, Dani a step behind him. Barbara looked back at the bathroom and muttered, "Huh. Okay," before leaving.

However, behind the bath screen was a frowning Toby, Blinky and AARRRGGHH!, with an invisible duplicate of Dani beside them, ready to turn them invisible if Barbara looked too closely. When she hadn't, the duplicate disappeared, having returned back to Dani.

AARRRGGHH! sniffed Toby deeply, grinning, and Toby hissed, "Stop sniffing me, giant troll dude!"

"Smell like cat," AARRRGGHH! said.

...

_Later_

Barbara, who was now returning back to the hospital, drove away as Toby, Dani and Jim watched from a window.

AARRGGHH!, who wasn't used to such a small space, jostled the ceiling lights around, making a lot of noise that alerted Jim, Dani and Toby to him as they looked at him with wide eyes.

AARRRGGHH! knocked down several books and said, "Your cave, too small."

Jim picked up the books as Toby and Dani moved out of the way, Blinky coming into the room as he asked, "So, Master Jim, are you ready? We should begin your training immediately."

"Uh, it's a school night," Jim said, looking for excuses.

"I assure you, the relevance escapes me," Blinky replied.

"And besides, doesn't the whole 'begin your training immediately' sound like a great idea?" Dani asked.

"I'm _fifteen_! I have to stay home and, uh, study and stuff. Do homework? I can't be out, you know, trollhunting?" Jim argued.

Meanwhile, as Toby was picking up VHS tapes, AARRRGGHH! began sniffing them, before grinning, and Toby threw a tape into his mouth, the giant troll eating it.

"Because?" Blinky asked, not really seeing the point.

"Well, the whole 'getting _killed_ by a vicious troll named Bular' might be a dealbreaker," Jim argued, just as Toby exclaimed, "Dude! He eats VHS's!"

AARRRGGHH! belched and Dani said, "That's pretty cool!"

Jim, meanwhile, walked past Blinky as he asked, "Dealbreaker?"

Putting the books down, Jim whirled around and shouted, "I don't want to _die_!"

Blinky blinked once, before exclaiming, "Goodness gracious! Who does?"

Looking down, Jim pulled out the amulet from his pocket and handed it to the six-eyed troll before him.

"Maybe you should take this back," Jim said, surprising Blinky.

"The amulet called to _you_, Master Jim. It _chose _you. It is your—" Blinky began, but Jim interrupted, "Please, don't say 'destiny'."

"... sacred obligation," Blinky finished, as if he hadn't been interrupted.

"Or that," Jim said, face-palming.

"You cannot refuse it. You cannot give it back. It is _yours_ until you die," Blinky told him.

"And I would like to get a little further past puberty _before _that happens!" Jim exclaimed in frustration.

"Master Jim, you are now responsible for the protection of _two_ worlds, human _and _troll alike, _just _like how Danielle and her cousin are responsible for the protection of the human and ghost worlds. If you do not keep the balance, evil trolls like Bular _will _come into yours and wreak havoc," Blinky told him, Dani whipping her head around when he mentioned her and Danny and tried to signal him to stop, but he didn't, further confusing Toby.

"You're saying this Bular can _hurt _people?" Jim asked.

"Like you," AARRGGHH! stated, pointing to Jim.

"Not. Helping!" Blinky ground out, glaring at AARRRGGHH!

"What's he talking about?' Jim asked.

"With the amulet now in your possession, Bular _will _seek you out, and you _will _face him, one way or another," Blinky told Jim, shocking him and angering Dani.

"Hold up, hold up. Are you saying that the amulet is like a _homing beacon _for Bular, and that with it, he'll find and kill Jim?" Dani asked, anger in her voice.

"Yes."

Dani groaned and ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes briefly flashing green. "Great! As if things _weren't _complicated enough already."

"Maybe what Jim needs is a little time to process all of this. You know, you laid a lot of heavy stuff on him tonight," Toby suggested, standing beside Jim.

_That's... a pretty good idea, _Dani thought.

Blinky thought over it, before he said, "Fine, fine. We shall return tomorrow then, to begin your training."

"Awesome sauce," Toby said, grinning, but Jim still looked unsure.

Opening the back door, Toby checked to see if the coast was clear before turning to AARRRGGHH, who was standing behind him, and held up some VHS tapes as he said, "For the road, big guy."

"VHS," AARRGGHH said eagerly.

"_Moral Weapons Five _and _Six_," Toby told him as AARRRGGHH! ate the tapes.

The large troll tried to get through, but was stuck once more. As Toby helped him through, Blinky noticed that Jim was looking at the amulet, still unsure, Dani standing in the shadows.

Walking up to Jim, Blinky said, "Master Jim, if I may... Destiny is a gift. Some go their entire lives living existences of quiet desperation, never learning the truth that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually a sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights. Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valour, that to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero. Don't think, Master Jim. _Become_."

Jim, who had smiled at the end, looked down, once more unsure, but Dani was smiling from the shadows, feeling as if that very speech applied to her—and perhaps to Danny—as well.

"Would you at least consider?" Blinky asked.

Looking up, Jim smiled and fist-bumped each of Blinky's four hands, the blue-skinned troll smiling.

Now through, AARRRGGHH! and Blinky were at the fence, the green-furred troll looking out for any curious eyes before hopping over it, Blinky turning to wave at Jim, Dani and Toby standing at the doorframe before AARRRGGHH grabbed him and pulled him over the fence, Blinky shouting, "Whoa!"

"They're pretty stealthy," Toby observed.

"I'll say," Dani agreed.

Looking at Jim, Toby punched him in the arm and said, "How's that? I bought you a night."

"A _night_?" Jim asked back.

"Dude, _you're _the one who's always talking about wanting adventure and something more. Well, wish granted," Toby reminded him.

Dani cast Jim a look and added, "He's got a point there, Jim."

Toby, turning back to the house, said, "Hmm. So, trolls are a thing. Who knew?"

As if he remembered something, Toby turned to Dani and added, "Dani, you promised you'd explain later what you and Jim were talking about earlier. Well, it's later."

Fear flashed through Dani briefly, but she shrugged and said, "I'll explain now. But, it's a long story, and I'll say this just now... trolls are not the _only _supernatural race to exist."

Following Toby inside, Dani looked back to see Jim still standing there, looking at where the two trolls were, obviously thinking over what they had said.

Giving him an encouraging smile, Dani walked back inside to begin her story while Jim closed the back door and locking it, still glancing out and still thinking over what Blinky had said.

...

_The next day_

It was tomorrow, and Toby, Dani and Jim were at school, heading to their class. Dani had told Toby that ghosts did exist and that she was half-ghost, prompting Toby to demand proof, which she did by making her eyes glow green and turning invisible, which convinced Toby that what she said was real. Thankfully, he also promised not to tell anyone.

As for Jim... he was still deciding what to do about everything that he had learned last night. Though Dani understood, she didn't say anything, knowing that he had to make the decision for himself.

"So... what did you decide?" Toby asked Jim, lightly punching him in the soldier.

"That if _anyone _finds out what happened in my kitchen last night, we'll both be committed," Jim answered, glaring at Toby and Dani added, "And I'm _not _using my powers to break us out."

"I meant about kicking Steve's butt," Toby corrected.

"Give up the dream, Tobes," Jim brushed off, just as the amulet dinged and began glowing again.

Toby, noticing that, grabbed Jim's bag to look at it and asked, "Does this thing run on batteries?"

"It's magic, Tobes. I don't think batteries would be making it glow," Dani deadpanned, but she was also looking at the amulet curiously.

The school bell rang then, and Jim noticed that people were looking at them curiously.

"What's it doing?" Toby whispered.

Jim placed a hand over it as he turned to face Toby and Dani and said, "How should _I _know? It didn't come with a _manual_."

"Does it feel like you're going to, you know, _change_?" Toby questioned, the question making Dani widen her eyes in alarm.

Jim, as if realising that as well, muttered, "Oh no."

"We've got to get you someplace that's not out here!" Toby exclaimed as he and Dani pushed Jim into the boys' locker rooms before he could armour up outside.

Unbeknownst to them, Strickler had seen them, and was now going to investigate.

...

_Meanwhile_

Inside the boys' locker room, a flash of blue light came and Jim stumbled back, wearing his armour, and Toby and Dani ran up, Toby exclaiming, "So cool!"

"This must be how Tucker, Sam and Danny felt during that first month when Danny got his powers and he couldn't control them," Dani muttered under her breath as Jim stood up, confused about why his armour came back.

"Okay. _Why _did it do that?" Jim asked in confusion.

"Jim? Jim, are you in here?" Strickler called.

Hearing him, Jim, Dani and Toby ran back further into the locker room, Strickler leaning forward.

"Keep him out of here," Jim hissed at Dani, who had turned invisible, and Toby while he moved across the lockers, staying out of Strickler's vision.

"_How_?" Toby hissed back, though Dani understood what he meant,

"Just go!" Jim exclaimed.

"Fine!" Toby harrumphed, getting up from where he had been kneeling behind a bench, Dani regaining visibility as they walked to the entrance of the locker room, where Strickler was walking towards.

"Oh! Hey, Mr. Strickler," Toby greeted, Dani just giving a nod, distracting the teacher as Jim moved further in.

"Ah, Toby, Dani. Have you two seen Jim? I believe he came in here," Strickler questioned. He glanced at Dani and asked in a sterner voice, "And shouldn't you _not _be in here, Dani?"

"Yeah, he, um... he's having some issues, you know?" Toby lied, Dani adding, "And we're here to help him with them."

"Taco Tuesday. Vicious," Toby said, but Strickler was already heading into the locker room.

Toby and Dani tried to stop him, but it was too late. He rounded the corner and saw Jim in his armour, Dani and Toby following behind as Dani face-palmed.

"I think he could probably use some time alone," Toby said, voice becoming more high-pitched.

Jim, nervously smiling, stared at the teacher as he walked toward him.

"Jim, I don't believe that's appropriate school attire. Do you?" Strickler said sternly, Toby and Dani walking up behind him as Toby freaked out and Dani kept calm, but was also freaking out on the inside.

"Oh, yeah. This. Huh. Funny story about this. It's, uh..." Jim fumbled, looking for a good lie to explain why he had armour.

Then he saw the flyer for the Romeo and Juliet play, and an idea went off.

"For _Romeo and Juliet_," Jim answered, lying.

"Yeah! It's for the tryouts," Toby agreed, Dani just smiling.

"Yes! The tryouts for _Romeo and Juliet,_" Jim lied.

"Jim's _totally _gonna smoke those auditions. I mean, look at his costume! It's so realistic," Toby said, hitting the chest plate with his fist.

"What happened to the chess club?" Strickler questioned, Dani looking at him as if to say, _What chess club?_

"Oh, uh, I, um..." Jim stammered, before answering, "I'm doing that, too, apparently."

Dani face-palmed.

"Hmm, well, you'd better hurry, then," Strickler said.

"What?" Jim asked, confused.

"I believe auditions end in five minutes," Strickler informed him, making Jim realise he had to audition now.

_..._

_Later_

"'Give me my Romeo. And when he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all of the world will be in love with night'," Claire recited, saying Juliet's lines for her audition as from the wings, Jim, Dani and Toby watched, to the applause of the people gathered.

"It would have been _easier _to tell him that I'm a _Trollhunter_," Jim said to Toby and Dani. "I don't even _know _the play."

"Thank you, Miss. Nuñez," Ms. Janneth said, writing down notes for Claire's audition.

Bowing, Claire exited the stage, heading into the wings where Jim, Dani and Toby were.

"John?" Claire asked.

"Um, Jim," Jim corrected.

"And here I thought you didn't like Shakespeare," Claire said.

"Oh, _no_, he's my favourite. I _totally _love him," Jim lied.

"That costume is _incredible_. Did you make it?" Claire asked, thinking that Jim's armour was a costume.

"No. He found a magical amulet that makes it," Toby answered for Jim, and Dani resisted the urge to face-palm and groan.

Claire chuckled and commented, "You're funny."

Jim, glaring at Toby, chuckled and said, "Yeah, you're a real _comedian_, aren't you?", conveying that this time, the origins of the armour was supposed to stay secret.

"Next!" Ms. Janneth called.

"I think that's your cue," Claire advised, Toby thumping on the armour. "Break a leg."

"I'd prefer that," Jim muttered as he entered the stage.

Standing in the centre, Jim nervously chuckled as people stared at him and Ms. Janneth asked, "Who _are _you?"

"James Lake Junior," Jim introduced.

"And what are you trying out for?" Ms. Janneth questioned.

"Uh, Romeo," Jim answered.

"Well, we are all _ears_," Ms. Janneth said firmly, already writing down notes.

Jim stood there, not knowing what to say, as the audience murmured, mostly about his "costume". Glancing to the wings, he saw Claire, Toby and Dani, Toby giving him a thumbs up and both him and Dani smiling encouragingly, along with Claire.

Jim, smiling back, stared out at the audience and began, "Uh..."

Hesitating, Jim then thought of Blinky's speech.

"'Destiny...'" he began, taking in a deep breath before continuing again, "'Destiny is... a gift.'"

His amulet dinged, glowing brightly. Jim looked at it once and smiled before going on.

"'Some go their entire _lives _living an existence of quiet desperation, never learning the _truth _that what _feels _as though a _burden _pushing down upon our shoulders...'" Jim recited, grabbing his sword and pointing it to the audience, which had them gasping, "'...is actually the sense of _purpose _that _lifts _us to greater _heights_. _Never _forget that _fear _is _but_ the _precursor _to valour.'"

Ms. Janneth, hearing Jim's audition, leaned sideways towards Claire, who had sat down on a seat in the audience and murmured, "He's good."

"'That to strive and _triumph _in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero,'" Jim continued, holding aloft his sword. "'Don't think.'"

Moving his sword in several manoeuvres, making Ms. Janneth gasp, he sheathed it and finished with one word:

"'_Become.'_"

Everyone immediately applauded and Ms. Janneth breathed, "Oh my."

Jim smiled as Strickler watched from the shadows, glaring, before he left.

As people still applauded, Jim said, "Um, thank you."

Frowning, Eli threw down his cardboard sword and stormed off, knowing that Jim would get the part, and Claire stood up as well, walking to the stage as Jim kneeled down.

"Jim, that was remarkable," she complimented.

"Really? I didn't even think. I just sort of said it," Jim said truthfully.

Claire laughed and told him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "That's acting!"

Jim and Claire smiled at each other.

...

_Later_

It was now late afternoon descending into evening. School had finished hours ago, so Jim, Dani and Toby were biking home, and Dani and Toby _still _couldn't get over Jim's audition.

"Dude! That was _amazing_! _You _were amazing! I'm amazed at how amazing you are!" Toby gushed as they waited for a car to pass before continuing, biking through some construction.

"Agreed. It was _incredible," _Dani complimented, smiling broadly.

"I can't _believe _that that just happened," Jim said, still a bit surprised that he had done that.

"And did you see how the _chiquita _was looking at you?" Toby asked, referencing to Claire and how she couldn't stop looking at Jim throughout his audition. "Your armour totally did you a favour!"

"Toby's right; it must have _really _impressed her back there, along with your acting," Dani added, agreeing wigh Toby.

"I'm still getting the hang of it," Jim replied, not convinced.

"The multi-eye guy said it reacts to your emotional state," Toby pointed out. His bike suddenly went over a plank of wood, and he biked back with a grunt, saying, "The armour turns on when you're in distress."

"But I wasn't _in _distress back at school," Jim responded as they biked around a corner...

... only to brake at seeing the hulking troll standing there, roaring.

Toby gasped and Jim corrected, "But I am now."

The troll, for it was Bular, growled, clenched his hand into a fist and shouted, "Trollhunter! Merlin's Creation! Gunmar's Bane!"

Toby leaned towards Jim and hissed, "I think he's talking to you."

"Really? What made you think otherwise?" Dani asked back sarcastically, eyes never leaving the massive troll, now crouched on all fours, before them.

Bular roared and slammed the road with his fists, pacing and roaring at Jim. Stalking forward, Bular's knuckles came in contact with sun, of which they began burning before Bular pulled them back into the safety of the shade, before they could turn to stone, which hadn't gone unnoticed by Jim or Dani.

"Look! He's afraid of the sun," Jim observed, pointing at him. He glanced to his left, where he saw the sun slowly setting, and Toby exclaimed fearfully, "Not for long!"

"He's right; as soon as the sun dips down, he's gonna kill us!" Dani agreed, also eyeing the sun.

"The amulet! Surrender it, and I will give you a speedy death," Bular threatened.

"Doesn't know how to negotiate, this guy," Toby said nervously, and Dani nodded in agreement, thinking, _He negotiates just as well as Skulker does!_

Jim, who wasn't going to surrender the amulet, immediately biked away, Dani and Toby following right behind him as Toby screamed, "Go, go, go!"

Bular roared and gave chase after them, not letting his prey get away that easily.

The trio biked as hard and as fast as they could, Toby screaming his head off all the way. Bular rounded the corner, growling, and looked for Jim, but he couldn't see him, Toby or Dani. Growling, he began to search for them, not knowing that they had hidden behind the back of a truck, Jim holding the amulet and Dani ready to use her ghost powers if needed.

"Armour up, armour up, armour up! Please, now, faster!" Toby yelled fearfully, falling silent as they heard Bular growl and throw a car away, before moving on to the next one; it was only a matter of time until he came to the truck that the teens were hiding behind.

"Okay. For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command," Jim incanted, but unlike the previous times, the armour didn't appear.

Realising that, Jim yelled, "It's not working!"

Toby, hearing that, whirled to Dani and exclaimed, "Use your ghost powers!"

Dani, at first not hearing this, whirled around and asked, "What?"

"Dani, use your ghost powers to stop him before he kills us!" Toby elaborated.

"Uh, that's the thing... I don't know if I can," Dani admitted.

Toby blinked once, before exclaiming, "_What?! _What do you mean, you don't know?!"

"I'm half-_ghost_, not half-_troll_! I've only used my powers on ghosts and humans! I have no idea if they'll work on him, much less stop him!" Dani explained, glancing out from behind the cover of the truck to check to see how far Bular was from their hiding place.

The distance was not satisfying.

Toby blinked again, before he turned to Jim and yelled, "Armour up!"

"And make it quick! He's coming closer," Dani warned, inciting new fear in Toby.

"Okay!" Jim yelled, before he incanted the inscription again, but once again, it didn't work.

Bular, now at the truck they were hiding behind, at first didn't see them... but then he heard Jim.

"For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command. Seriously! It's mine to command. I'm commanding here!" Jim yelled at the amulet.

And then they heard the truck being lifted and saw Bular standing there, holding the truck.

"Centuries of Trollhunters, and I will have killed two in almost as many days," Bular said menacingly.

"He's good at math!" Toby shouted.

"Go, go, go!" Jim yelled, and they biked away quickly.

Grunting in frustration, Bular threw the truck at them. Jim, noticing it, yelled, "Flying truck!"

The truck fell, and Toby shouted, "Incoming!"

They made a sharp turn, just as the truck collided with the road, narrowly avoiding being killed. Bular threw another truck at them, causing Toby to scream. Panting, Jim turned to see Bular running beside him, and he roared, "I'll flay the flesh from your bones!"

"I like my bones the way they are. Thanks!" Toby fearfully yelled back.

"Same here!" Dani yelled as well, her voice trembling with terror.

Suddenly, Bular leapt in front of them and threw a punch at Jim, Dani and Toby, but they ducked out of the way, Toby yelping, and escaped, biking furiously as Bular ran behind them.

"Head down Delancey!" Jim shouted, and they turned to go down there, Bular halting once before he resumed the chase again.

As they biked for their lives, Jim saw the electronics store, and shouted, "Behind Stuart Electronics!"

Toby, realising what Jim was saying, shouted back, "You know I can't fit there!"

"You can fit!" Jim and Dani yelled as they biked down there, Toby close behind them.

"I can't!"

"You've been on a diet, remember?!" Jim yelled, zooming down the alleyway between the store and another building, Dani biking in there a second later and Toby just behind her, narrowly avoiding being grabbed by a roaring Bular.

But as Dani and Jim biked down the narrow alleyway, Toby was stuck. Hyperventilating, Toby panted, "I can't fit. I can't fit."

However, as he biked harder, he realised that he was slipping through, and he yelled, "I _can _fit! I can fit! I can fit! I'm fitting! Yay diet!"

He biked down the alleyway, avoiding Bular's grip as the large troll roared.

Now biking down the canal bridge and towards the suburbs, Toby wheezed, "Catch... my breath."

Braking, Jim and Dani looked at an exhausted Toby as he said, "Look at me, look at me. We're not dead, right?"

"Not being killed by an evil troll? _Definitely _a plus," Dani panted, also similarly exhausted.

Suddenly, they heard _Blinky _laughing and they looked in shock as he and AARRRGGHH! appeared from the sidewalk, as if they had been there all along.

"Master Jim! Ha-ha!" Blinky laughed, grinning.

"Bular's trying to kill us! He chased us all over town!" Jim shouted, walking up to Blinky as he had hopped off his bike.

"And you're still alive! I knew you had potential, Master Jim," Blinky said, as if unbothered by what Jim had just said.

"You have a sweet voice, but you bring _death _with you!" Toby yelled, glaring at Blinky.

"I second that," Dani agreed, also glaring as her eyes glowed green.

"You guys can fight him, right?" Jim asked... only for them to laugh.

Chuckling, Blinky said, "I could not _hope _to possess the skill to defeat Bular."

Jim immediately gestured to AARRRGGHH! and asked, "What about him? He's big."

"Pacifist," AARRRGGHH! answered.

"_Seriously_?" Jim and Dani questioned in shocked unison.

"Man, such a waste of a hulking brute," Toby commented, patting AARRRGGHH!

"Thank you," AARRRGGHH! said.

"This is _why _there is a Trollhunter, Master Jim. AARRRGGHH! renounced the violent path _ages _ago," Blinky explained, shrugging.

Suddenly, Bular appeared at the end of the turn-off, growling.

"Follow me! We'll be safe in Heartstone Trollmarket!" Blinky informed as he and AARRRGGHH! ran, Dani, Jim and Toby biking furiously behind them as Bular chased them.

As they passed a house—which happened to be Eli's house—Blinky screaming and Toby shrieking, it woke up Eli, who saw a growling Bular race past, having missed Jim, Dani and the others go past.

Seeing Bular, Eli grinned, knowing this was his proof, and he yelled, "Yes! I knew it!"

...

_Meanwhile_

Back to the chase, Bular threw down one of the poles supporting the powerlines, sending a shower of sparks down as other poles fell. Toby, who was the slowest of them, screamed, "Oh no!" as a pole fell in his path and his bike tumbled over it, sending Toby into the air as he screamed, only to be caught by AARRRGGHH! and thrown onto his back. Bular, who was right behind them, got his foot caught in Toby's bike, but he threw it away before resuming the chase, this time through the woods that lead to the canals, with Blinky, Jim and Dani at the front, Toby and AARRRGGHH! in the middle, and Bular behind them.

"Master Jim! Don your armour!" Blinky yelled.

"I've been _trying_! The amulet won't listen to me!" Jim yelled back.

"Did you speak the incantation?" Blinky questioned.

"I've been incanting the crap out of it, and it's not working!" Jim shouted.

"Just focus and incant, dude!" Toby yelled from where he was barely hanging on to AARRRGGHH's back.

"He's right, Jim! If you don't summon your armour, we'll all be dead!" Dani yelled, before she screamed as Bular threw a tree at her.

"DANI!" Jim shouted, but Dani, who had ducked, biked away from the fallen tree, panting, "I'm okay!"

Jim, looking forward, saw the edge of the canal wall appear and halted at it, bike tyres screeching, as Blinky, Dani, AARRRGGHH! and Toby went down it to the canal below, dropping his bike as he stood there.

At the bottom, Dani discarded her bike and immediately noticed that Jim wasn't there, but back up at the canal, where Bular was running in fast.

"_JIM_!" Dani screamed, ready to fly up there until she noticed that Jim had pulled out the amulet. Seeing it and realising what he was about to do, Dani shrieked, "No, Jim! If it doesn't work, you'll be killed!"

But Jim either didn't hear her or didn't notice as he faced down the charging Bular, amulet in his hands as he incanted, "Uh... For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command."

However, the armour didn't appear, and Bular was closing in fast, and Dani was on the verge of flying up and pulling Jim back down to the safety of the canal.

"For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command," Jim incanted, before he incanted one, final time, "For the glory of Merlin, Daylight is mine to command."

The amulet immediately began glowing and Jim closed his eyes—just as Bular punched him in the chest.

"_JIM!_" Dani screamed.

However, the punch proved to be non-fatal, as the armour had appeared over Jim's chest, protecting him from the force of the punch, and he flew through the air as the rest of the armour hovered over him before attaching to his body and Jim fell to the ground, drawing Toby, Dani, Blinky and AARRRGGHH!'s attention, landing on the ground in a kneeling position after skidding across it, gouging a deep line, the sword appearing in his hands. Jim grunted at the weight of the still-heavy sword before he lifted it up, standing.

A roar from Bular had the others turn back to the furious troll, who roared again in anger.

"Uh... Nope," Jim said, running away.

Panting, Jim watched as Bular ran up the side of the canal before leaping in front of Jim with a roar, forcing him to stop in front of him and Jim stumbled back, gaping at Bular.

"Use your sword, Master Jim!" Blinky advised.

"I'll drink your blood, out of a goblet, made of your skull!" Bular roared.

"Cut him like a meatloaf, Jim!" Toby advised.

Jim, looking at the sword once, faced it to Bular, a serious expression on his face.

Roaring, the troll charged, and the lines on Jim's armour glowed blue and the blue fire returned to the sword, and Jim swung it up, blocking Bular's punch in an explosion of blue, fiery light as Jim yelled, both troll and Trollhunter skidding back from the force.

Bular roared and slammed his fist into the ground, causing it to crack.

"We must work quickly. Open the portal!" Blinky instructed AARRGGHH!, who charged to the side of the canal underneath the bridge. Opening the lid of one of the pouches attached to his overalls, Blinky pulled out an orange glowing crystal attached to a handle and threw it to AARRRGGHH!, shouting, "The Horngazel!"

Grabbing it, AARRRGGHH! drew a glowing blue semicircle over the wall before punching in the wall, causing glowing blue cracks to form and a blue portal to appear.

"Whoa," Toby and Dani breathed, amazed at what they had seen.

Portal formed, Blinky turned to shout at Jim, "Master Jim! Master Jim, come on!"

"I'm a little busy here," Jim shouted back, facing off Bular, who unsheathed his two swords.

"You're not fit to wield the amulet," he growled. "I'll tear the armour off you! Along with your skin!"

He swung his sword down, but Jim dodged and swung his own sword up, but Bular blocked it with his stone arm, the sword stuck.

Bular lifted his arm and growled at Jim.

Raising his arm, Bular threw Jim off him, forcing the black-haired teen to let go of the sword and it flew up into the air and down to the ground, sinking in.

Dani, seeing that Bular was going to kill Jim now that he was defenceless, exclaimed in fear, "He's going to be killed!"

Bular roared, and Dani made her decision.

"That's it. I'm helping him."

Dani moved towards him, but Toby grabbed her arm and said, "Dani, you don't know if your powers can affect trolls!"

"I don't care! Jim's life is in danger!" Dani yelled, phasing out of his grip and racing to Jim, shouting, "I'M GOING GHOST!"

The familiar rings appeared around Dani as she leapt into the air, transforming her into her ghost form as green energy formed in her hand, a fearsome expression on her face.

As Bular charged at Jim, Dani yelled, "GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!"

Suddenly, Dani fired a ghost ray at Bular, striking him in the shoulder. The evil troll groaned in pain and scooted back, staring at his shoulder as green smoke and blue light sizzled, his shoulder threatening to turn to stone.

Landing beside Jim, Dani saw what her ghost ray had done to Bular and was surprised.

_Looks like my ghost powers _can _affect trolls after all._

Turning to Jim, she asked in concern, "Are you okay?"

"Other than being almost killed several times, I'm fine," Jim answered. Staring at her, he did a double-take at seeing her ghost form. "Dani, are you..."

Dani shrugged and explained "It's my ghost form. I'm able to use my powers more easily and more strongly than I would when I'm human. It's another power, but it's unique to half-ghosts only."

"You look pretty cool, but Dani... you're _glowing_," Jim breathed, still wide-eyed.

Dani shot him a quick glare but answered, "I always glow when I go ghost; _all _ghosts glow, actually."

"Oh."

The siblings suddenly heard Bular roar, and Dani said, "Normally, I would love a good butt-kicking, but I'm still new to fighting trolls with my powers, so I think we should run."

"Good idea," Jim agreed.

Jim and Dani immediately began running to the portal as Toby, who along with Blinky, AARRRGGHH! were inside it, shouted, "Come on, come on! Let's go, guys! Oh no!"

As Jim and Dani arrived at the portal, it suddenly closed just as they arrived, leaving them trapped. Suddenly, Jim's armour disappeared, alarming both him and Dani.

"Oh no," Jim breathed. The amulet fell off his chest and Jim grabbed it, but he and Dani, who's hands were already glowing with green ectoplasm, turned to see Bular standing there, swinging his swords as he glared at Dani.

"I'm going to make you pay for that, ghost girl!" he roared.

"I know!" Dani yelled back.

Roaring, Bular sent his swords flying at Jim and Dani, pinning them between the two massive blades. Dani, dispelling the energy from her right hand, grabbed Jim's arm and was about to make them intangible to phase through the wall, but before she could, AARRRGGHH! grabbed them through a newly formed portal and yanked them through, the portal closing once more just as Bular punched it.

Slamming it, Bular roared, angered that the Trollhunter had gotten away.

...

_Meanwhile_

On the other side of the portal, Jim, Toby and Dani—who transformed back to her human form—gasped and whimpered at their near-death experience.

"He nearly... We nearly... He almost..." Jim panted, and Blinky asked, "Almost what? Speak, Master Jim."

"He almost _killed _us!" Jim yelled, but that didn't seem to alarm Blinky.

"'Almost'! A very important word. A life of almost is a life of never," Blinky said, confusing Jim, Dani and Toby.

"Why'd the armour suddenly shut off?" Jim asked as they walked towards Blinky, Dani folding her arms.

"Master Jim, _you _are the first human to posses an amulet crafted for trolls. It's to be expected that its behaviour will be... unexpected," Blinky explained as he walked down a set of blue, crystal stairs that glowed, descending down further in a spiral. "This way, Masters and Mistress. This way."

Toby awed at the sight as he, Jim, Dani and AARRRGGHH! stepped onto the staircase, walking down it. As they did, Jim leaned in and said, "Thank you for saving my life back there, Dani."

"It's okay. You're my brother, adoptive or not; I will _always _have your back... even if it means fighting trolls," Dani said back.

"And that laser thing you shot at Bular. Is that another of your powers?" Jim questioned.

"Yep. It's called a ghost ray, and one of my most useful powers, created from my ectoplasmic energy," Dani answered, letting her hand be wreathed in green energy and awing Jim further, and he muttered, "Remind me to _never _get on your bad side."

"Wise move," Dani replied, and with that, the two siblings continued walking down the crystal staircase as Toby asked, "Are you sure we're safe in here?"

"Indeed. The incantation forbids entry to Heartstone Trollmarket by Gumm-Gumms, such as Bular, for they are the most fearsome of trolls," Blinky answered. Looking at Dani, he added apologetically, "Unfortunately, it also forbids entry to any ghost that wishes to phase through, to keep some of the more fearsome ones out."

"Great," Dani muttered under her breath, but she could see the reasoning behind it; she could already name a few ghosts that would be fearsome enough to attack this place.

And a certain Vlad Plasmius was right at the very top of that list.

"Gumm-Gumms?" Jim echoed.

"Scary ones," AARRRGGHH! said.

Arriving at the bottom of the crystal staircase, Jim ran in front of Blinky and asked, "Okay, wait, wait. So, Bular can't get in here, right? Into Heartstone Trollmarket?"

"No, Master Jim," Blinky confirmed, turning Jim around as he, Dani and Toby felt their eyes widen and mouths hang open at what they were seeing.

"Whoa/Wow/What..." Jim, Toby and Dani breathed in unison, walking towards what they had seen with wide eyes as Blinky said to Jim, "This is the world you are bound to protect."

The world was revealed to be a village that seemed to have grown _from _the rocks, with crystals everywhere and neon signs in a different language on them and several bridges everywhere, with several trolls in the village. And in the centre, was a large, orange-red stone, which seemed to be _pulsing _with life.

"This, is Heartstone Trollmarket!" Blinky declared, Toby, Dani and especially Jim staring at it in awe.

**Please read and review!**

**GhostWriterGirl out!**


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